Exclusive: Army vet comes clean about years of lies

NAPLES, Fla.- Bill Oliver is a man with a heavy heart. He runs a small medical supply company and teaches martial arts three days a week at Aiki Ju-jitsu in Naples. In an exclusive interview with WINK News, Oliver is coming clean about a lie he says he’s been living for the past 15 years.

“It’s beyond shameful what I did, it’s absolutely wrong,” Oliver told WINK News.

Until recently, the website promoting his martial arts studio stated Oliver was a former U.S. Army Special Forces operator. In 2001 he did an interview with a South Carolina newspaper claiming to be an Army Ranger.

Oliver’s military records show he was in the Army, active from 1979-1982, but as a masonry specialist.

“I didn’t see any combat, I didn’t deploy, I didn’t do any specialized training or special forces type stuff whatsoever,” said Oliver.

Oliver says the lie started when a student saw his Army jump photo and assumed he was a Ranger, and Oliver went along with it.

“Then it got to a place where quite honestly I felt comfortable, you know, and I started taking on this lie. And in some small ways almost believing it.”

Oliver says he kept the lie going for years out of fear of rejection.

Guardian Of Valor, a national organization dedicated to outing people who lie about their military service, published a scathing article on Oliver December 14 after a months long investigation.

“The problem is is the people were attending his dojo based on his claim, they thought he was some Special Forces/Delta Force guy that could give them great training. He gained money off of making false claims and being something he wasn’t,” said Anthony Anderson of Guardian Of Valor.

Oliver says he charges his students $100 a month for lessons, and doesn’t make a profit. He claims all the money goes right to keeping the dojo open.

After getting word the article would be published, Oliver took to Facebook, confessing his lies.

“I got pounded. It was pretty crushing. I got you know a ton of emails telling me what a piece of crap I was, what a low life and how disgusting. And I get it, I totally get it and I deserve every bit of it,” said Oliver.

Oliver’s students are sticking by his side.

“It was shocking at first… but it didn’t change my opinion about the man, the person that I’ve come to love, the person that I’ve come to know,” said student Jammie Stockner.

“I’m just real thankful, I’m just real thankful that some people care about me,” said Oliver.

Florida does have a Stolen Valor law, but it’s restricted to those who lie about receiving certain military medals. At this time Oliver is not facing any criminal charges.