Chapter 10 - The ghost veterans
The records eventually revealed a system bigger than Hannah first suspected.
Forge Forward received money from four major sources:
A state veterans’ wellness grant.
Private foundations.
Corporate sponsors.
And donor-restricted contributions raised through Ironclad events.
Over twenty-eight months, Forge Forward reported serving:
312 veterans.
Actual confirmed participants:
Roughly 186.
Why the difference?
Because dozens of names had become what staff privately called:
carryovers.
A veteran would enroll.
Attend six weeks.
Stop coming.
But certain attendance records continued.
Another person would complete the program, yet transportation reimbursements continued for months.
Some names appeared in classes they never attended.
Others were counted simultaneously in:
Strength training.
Mobility.
Combat conditioning.
Peer-support recreation.
That inflated:
Participation.
Utilization.
Reimbursement.
Grant-renewal metrics.
Gross questionable billing and grant allocation:
Approximately $487,000.
Not all stolen.
That distinction mattered.
Some money genuinely paid:
Coaches.
Facility time.
Equipment.
Transportation.
Meals.
Insurance.
Actual veteran services.
The strongest unsupported or falsely represented portion was ultimately estimated around:
$214,000.
Then my name appeared.
Forge Forward marketing materials described the program as:
Built on conditioning principles developed by legendary Marine instructor Sergeant Samuel Miller.
I had never developed their program.
A private donor deck said:
Advisory methodology informed directly by Sgt. Miller’s fifteen-year Marine combat-instructor career.
False.
Another grant application included an old photograph of me teaching a military instructor course.
I had never authorized it.
How did they get it?
Dustin.
Through Hannah.
Months earlier, Hannah showed him a retirement scrapbook.
He photographed several pages.
Then Brent used one image in fundraising materials.
That was why Hannah became furious when she discovered the billing.
They were not only fabricating attendance.
They were using my service record to make the program seem professionally endorsed.
Then came the email that changed the case.
Dustin to Brent:
If Hannah audits the raw attendance, she’ll figure out the carryovers.
Brent:
Then keep her on donor reports, not reimbursement.
Dustin:
She already downloaded both.
Brent:
May you like
Handle your girlfriend.
That email was sent four hours before Hannah went to the hospital.
