UPDATE: Summerville man admits to fabricating story

Editor's note:

Les Agro, the Summerville electrician who claimed to be a member of the Navy's elite SEAL commando team and a participant in the 1991 liberation of Kuwait, and whose story was featured on the front page of the Dec. 13, 2010 edition of The Post and Courier, admitted Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2010, that his account was false.

Les Agro admitted he made up the story up and had been telling it for as long as eight years. "I wanted to be more than I am," he said during a telephone interview.

Agro was featured in Monday's Post and Courier as a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress and seeking solitude through horse-riding. After the story appeared, groups that regularly monitor the published claims of service members began raising questions about Agro.

The newspaper then asked him to provide his discharge documents to back his claim. He repeatedly stuck by his account, but today admitted he has faked his story at least since 2002, including to his family and members of the American Legion. "I probably need to seek help for it, yes," he said.

One source who monitors the growth of false military service claims called them "an epidemic."

The text of the original story appears below.

When it came time to kick Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait during the first Gulf War, Navy SEAL Les Agro was among the early clandestine troops to go in.

While the outcome was never in doubt, the mission left Agro wounded and scarred, slashed by a bayonet thrust from an Iraqi soldier that landed below his chin.

Mood swings would follow, part of the inescapable memory of close-in combat. So would fits of mistrust, fed by nights of partying too much.

Two decades later, the calming effects of a horse are bringing Agro peace.

On a small farm in Berkeley County near Ridgeville, Agro and his family are going through weekly sessions of horse therapy. While some men who've been exposed to the worst that war can offer never find their relief, Agro's post-traumatic stress medicine is in going back to the gentleness of horses, an experience he's been familiar with since childhood.

"As long as I do right, I know I can completely trust this animal," Agro, 43, said as he gave familiar hand-pats to "Cowboy," a loving, 5-year-old chestnut Paint.

Agro is taking riding lessons through Horses in Service Ministries (HIS), a faith-based, not-for-profit effort operated by Leslie and Sidney Clark. Both are military veterans looking to give back. Along with the parent group NARHA, (the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association), the goal is to use horses as a bonding tool, a means of reaching wounded warriors.

While some might see dogs as the first option as a service animal, Leslie Clark is quick to point out that horses are equally noble. "The heart of the horseback riding experience is seeing a person set free from fear, anger or mistrust that held them captive for years," she said.

By design, Agro's entire family is involved in the weekly riding lessons: 2-year-old son Sawyer, daughters Peyton, 10, and Elizabeth, 11, and wife, Blythe. The couple met when he opened the door for her several years ago at pizza parlor in Summerville. He noticed a horse pattern on her purse and they struck up a conversation. Dating followed. They married near The Battery in downtown Charleston.

Agro joined the Navy after growing up in his native Alabama. He opted to try out for the elite SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) warrior program when he was in boot camp. It was the 1980s and the flashy era of Tom Cruise in "Top Gun" was dominating the media. For many, the elusive SEALs were an enigma but they were the challenge Agro wanted.

Cloaked by darkness, he took part in the 1989 invasion of Panama to rid the country of Manuel Noriega, and the ground war to liberate Kuwait. Today, Agro shares few details about his involvement in either action, partly because of national security concerns that still remain, and partly because the pain of what he saw still lingers, including of lost comrades.

"You never forget what happens but you've got to deal with it," he said, his voice trailing off.

Agro left the service in late 1991. The years afterward were difficult. A first marriage failed and he admits to partying too much. Then one day he opted to buy two horses and stable them in Dorchester County. The decision helped put an end to his hard living since nobody except him was going to get up in the morning and see to the horses' needs.

Today, Agro's PTSD manifests in unpredictable ways, largely forcing his emotions inward. Veteran's Day is especially hard.

But life changes during the family's Saturday sessions at the Clark farm where each member of the family participates in all the steps of horse-keeping, from the mandatory grooming and brushing, to learning proper riding techniques and etiquette, and the cleanup.

The Clarks aren't the only group that uses horses for treating the needs of vets. Charleston Area Therapeutic Riding has a Horses for Heroes program that is done in coordination with the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center. About six vets are taking part, many dating their service to Vietnam and even World War II.

Mastering a horse fits in with the military mind set, advocates say. First, there is a sense of mutual respect between rider and horse striving to act as a unit. Also, the movements require attention to detail, commands and body coordination instilled in soldiers. Deeper down, though, the healing comes by way of the simple connection to another living thing.

"Horses are big and they are powerful," Leslie Clark said. "Learning to ride is challenging, exciting and thrilling, it is calming, peaceful and gentle -- all wrapped in one beautiful package."

In the saddle, Agro talks of feeling an immediate and noticeable change in his body core once he is seated on Cowboy. His heart rate slows down, he says, while the body heat rising from the 1,100-pound animal gives him extra warmth on an uncharacteristically cold and windy Lowcountry day.

Eventually both Agro and Clark would like to expand the horse program to include more PTSD vets. But for now, the benefit goes to Agro, his wife and their children.

"I definitely feel I have my husband back after we've had these sessions," she said.

Reach Schuyler Kropf at 937-5551.