According to Garnett he packed a lot of action into those five months Navy service, including being promoted to the rank of Chief Petty Officer, and serving twice in Vietnam as a specialist Navy Clearance Diver.

I
 

 

Two of the above photos show Garnett as a twenty four year old sailor wearing the rank of an Acting Petty Officer. The centre photo is a contemporary photo of Garnett and he is wearing the hat badge of a Navy Officer. He claims to be a Lieutenant Commander Retired, RAN and added a few little academic qualifications including a PhD. It is amazing what can be done with computer programs like “Photo Shop”. Garnett has fraudulently added rank to two of the photos shown above to “prove” that he was a Petty Officer Clearance Diver.  The email below, written by Garnett shows his claim to RAN Officer rank and a PhD.

 
“Wellesley Nautical School can boast many successful trainees, such as police officers, yes 'POLICE OFFICERS', prison officers, Public Prosecution Officers, A couple of titled Lords of the Realm, teachers, army officers, navy officers, mercantile marine ships officers, coastal & harbour pilots, Coast Guard officers and the list goes on. Wilf Pine was associated with many Rock groups, some of which I was happy to attend their concerts, did you? Can you claim such a proud heritage? I doubt it, so I would suggest you, Oli and Charleyroy pull your heads in and rebury them in the sand.
 
I am reminded of a biblical statement I once heard in St Cuthberts church in Blyth, whilst a Wellesley trainee, "Let ye who is without fault cast the first stone." Obviously you both think you are without fault because you actually did cast the first, and second, stone(s). You are both contemptible excuses for human beings. Go get a life, or more likely a job!
 
B. Garnett. (Proud Founder of the 'Original' T.S. Wellesley Forum.)
Lt. Cmdr Ret. R.A.N
Cmdr Ret Aust. Coast Guard T.O.
B.A (Sociology) VUT
M.Phils (Psychology) G.U
M.A (Behavioural Sciences) G.U
PhD C”
 
We don’t know about Garnet’s academic achievements, but knowing his background, it is most likely that they are as dodgy as his five months Navy Career.
 
The next two documents are Garnett’s Royal Australian Navy Service Record:
 
 

 

Document one clearly identifies R63961 Brian Garnett as being the same person shown in our photographs.  Document two, shows that Garnett was discharged after five months service on the grounds of “Fraudulent Enlistment”.
 

Garnett claims to have been an elite Navy Clearance Diver who served two tours in Vietnam, unfortunately for Garnett many of the real Clearance Divers are still around and they all know each other and they all know that Garnett was not one of them.

 
Garnett has put much of the fiction about himself in writing. Here is another example
 
“Posts: 2408
Registered: 19-8-2003
Location: Queensland, Australia
Member Is Offline
 
Mood: Super happy with our new host!!!
 posted on 20-8-2003 at 12:00 
 
Brian Garnett
 
Attended Wellesley from 10 October 1956 to 18 October 1957.
 
I found my way to Australia where I joined the Royal Australian Navy. I retired after completion of my service as a C.P.O Clearance Diver. During my service I served in various ships of the RAN and saw service on two occasions (sic) in VietNam with CDT3 and CDT2.
 
After my discharge from the RAN I joined the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, (A lot of Ex Pussers did, seemed to be the career after completing naval service) in Melbourne. I am now retired.
 
After my retirement I was "Instructions Officer" with the Australian Coast Guard and became the QF6 Training Officer with the rank of Lt Cmdr.
 
I eventually decided to see if I could gain entry into university and get the education I missed out on as a youngster and whilst at Wellesley.
 
I received a B.A Hons (Community Development) and also completed my M.Phils (Sociology) and was 12 months into completing my PhD but realised that I was 'studied out' and decided to give it away and enjoy my retirement.
 
Now fully retired, (finally) and living west of Brisbane in Laidley, Queensland, Australia.
 
I travel most years to the U.K, so who knows, maybe I can attend a reunion with other ex trainees, I hope to eventually get there with 'bells' on.
 
Cheers All.
 
Brian Garnett
RAN (CPO CD) Rtd. A.C.G (QF6) Rtd”
 
 
Here is another example of Garnett’s fraud and deception.
 
 

 

Garnett claims in the above document to have served in Vietnam with Clearance Diving Teams  CDT2 and CDT3.  Simply put he did not serve in CDT3 and CDT2 was never deployed to South Vietnam. Here is an email from a member of CDT3. Parts of the email have been expunged for brevity:
 

“From: xxxxxxxx
To: information@anzmi.net
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 3:27 PM
Subject: Imposter 
 
G'day,
 
My name is xxxxxx. I was a member of RANCDT3 in Vietnam  --- (Deleted) 
 

It has been brought to my attention that an imposter is making numerous claims about his service with CDT3 & CDT2 in Vietnam - CDT2 never deployed to Vietnam.
 
To make matters worse he has apparently sent around a photo of a graduating class of Clearance Diving Officers and claimed that he is one of the graduates. The person he is claiming to be has been deceased for approx 2 years. As you can imagine we (the ex CD community) are extremely angry.
 
(Deleted)
 
In the meantime we would appreciate your exposing this liar and fraud on your website and also suggesting other avenues of silencing this creep.
 
As you can see, he actually served in the RAN from Jan '65 to June '65 (4 months) when he was discharged for 'fraudulent entry.
 
The photos of him in uniform are clearly Photoshop jobs as he claims to be a Petty Officer CD by the badges he is 'wearing'
 
He states he retired as a CPOCD but his current photo (avatar) shows him wearing a Beret with Officer's badge.
 
Many thanks,
xxxxxxxxx
 
Once again we invite the Australian Federal Police and State Police to have a look at Garnett’s activities. It is obvious that Garnett has committed offences against the Defence Act, however as we have extended this invitation time after time with no results we will not sit around waiting for action.
 
Garnett was never a RAN Clearance Diver, he never served in Vietnam or any other war with the Australian Defence Force, he is a liar a fraud and a wannabe who has well earned his position on this web site