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John T. Reed’s analysis of Robert T. Kiyosaki’s book Rich Dad, Poor Dad 3

U.S. Naval Academy
I did not put my suspicion that Kiyosaki was rejected by a major service academy in this analysis originally because I had no evidence of it. Now I do. A reporter for People magazine interviewed me about Kiyosaki. In the course of the interview, he mentioned that Kiyosaki admitted to him that he had applied to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, but was rejected for academic reasons. So if he went to the Merchant Marine Academy to learn international business, why did he apply to the Naval Academy? Let me guess. To study oceanography? And I guess if we are to believe that he went to the Merchant Marine Academy to study international business, he must have deliberately flunked admission to the Naval Academy because going there would have interfered with his plan to learn international business. What international-business purpose was served by applying to the Naval Academy is a part of Kiyosaki’s tangled web that I have no clue about.
In his 1993 book …Don’t Go To School?, he said, “In 1964, I received two nominations: one to the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY, another to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD. I accepted the Kings Point nomination.”
I am a West Point graduate, so I am familiar with the terminology and procedure associated with admission to service academies. Kiyosaki says he received two “nominations.” Admission to the U.S. Naval Academy, like admission to my alma mater, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, is a multi-step process.
The first step is to obtain a nomination from a Congressman or Senator. A nomination is not an admission. Rather it just lets you begin the rest of the application process. Furthermore, there are two kinds of nomination: principal and alternate. I got a principal nomination from Congressman Cahill. That meant that I would be admitted if I passed the three categories of criteria. Those who receive alternate nominations, which are ranked first, second, third, fourth, and so forth, only get admitted if the principal and alternates above them fail to gain admission. The detailed facts about Kiyosaki’s nomination are almost certainly listed in his hometown newspaper in late 1964.
During the post-nomination application process, you undergo an extensive physical exam more demanding than to enlist in the military—and a physical aptitude test of your athletic ability. I had to go to Fort Dix, NJ for those two tests. Simultaneously, you send your high school transcript and test scores to the service academy and they decide whether you meet their standards academically. If you pass all three tests, and you were the principal nominee, you get an appointment from the President of the United States. That means you are admitted.
Kiyosaki seems to imply that he was admitted to the Naval Academy, but turned it down. However, the use of the word “nomination” and the admission to People seem to indicate that he was, in fact, never accepted by the Naval Academy and therefore could not have chosen the Merchant Marine Academy over the Naval Academy.
A midshipman at Kiyosaki’s alma mater said that in Kiyosaki’s 5th book, he does not mention the Merchant Marine Academy by name. Rather he says only that he went to “the military academy in New York.” You gotta be kidding me! To 99% of the people, “the military academy in New York” is West Point. If his book Rich Dad Poor Dad is any indication, Kiyosaki would have lasted about two weeks at West Point before they threw him out for violating the cadet honor code. For chrissake, he’s even lying about having lived by the West Point honor code for four years.
Pilot
Taking an indirect and barely relevant route to an educational goal is a recurring theme in Kiyosaki's book. He seems to have a fascination with extremely roundabout, “reverse psychology” methods of teaching or learning. Kiyosaki states that he became a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot so he could learn how to lead men. Pilots fly helicopters. A pilot may lead his copilot and door gunner, but no one else. Furthermore, the actions of a copilot and door gunner are largely standard operating procedure. They do not need to be led much. And if they did, the pilot would be in a poor position to lead them because flying a helicopter is a task that consumes 100% of your attention. Only if he stayed in the service for many years would a pilot be put in charge of a group of helicopters and then be a leadership position. Kiyosaki did not stay in the military. If you want to lead men in the military, you become a platoon leader and company commander.
A Marine pilot wrote to tell me that pilots do lead. I surmise that he meant when they were on the ground. That is probably correct. I rode in a lot of helicopters in Vietnam. I never saw the pilots lead. They had their hands full with the flying. I never had any contact with them on the ground.
Also, in the 1993 book, he says, “…I…became a fighter pilot and went to Vietnam…and probably enjoyed combat more than most pilots ever do.” A Marine fighter is a fixed-wing jet aircraft that generally operates off an aircraft carrier. Helicopters sometimes operate off carriers, too, but no military person would call a helicopter a fighter. Then there is the question of why Kiyosaki’s flight training and pilot’s wings do not show up on his military records. The consensus among knowledgeable people seems to be that Kiyosaki was probably a pilot, although some find the omission of flight training from his military records a bit odd.
A reader tells me a Marine helicopter friend of his met Kiyosaki. He tried to talk pilot stuff but Kiyosaki was unable to talk like a pilot.
“…never returned to my ship”
The 1993 book contains a very strange discussion. He says that he found a “little boy in my helicopter one day and “had the right, if not the duty, to shoot and kill him on the spot. This was the code of war we were taught as military officers.”
I am aware of no such right, duty, or “Code of War.” The Geneva Convention, to which the U.S. is a signatory, prohibits shooting a surrendering enemy soldier, as does the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice. Furthermore, a child would generally not be considered a soldier at all. To be sure, in Vietnam, children sometimes attacked U.S. soldiers with deadly weapons like mines, grenades, or guns. They brazenly stole from our moving vehicles—engineer stakes and gas cans—when we were in convoy, because they knew we would not harm them. I suspect a Vietnamese child in a helicopter would be trying to steal something—although he could be just fascinated by the aircraft like any kid.
Kiyosaki then melodramatically describes that after aiming and starting to pull the trigger, that he “put my gun away that day forever. I committed myself to finding new ways of doing things, instead of simply responding to what I’d been told to do by a person who supposedly had more authority than I.”
In the absence of an immediate threat from the boy—and he mentions no such threat—shooting the boy would be murder, not obedience to any U.S. military authority. Indeed, it would be gross disobedience.
The “supposedly had more authority” line is rather weird for a U.S. Marine officer. A member of the U.S. military is required to carry out all lawful orders of his superiors and there is no ambiguity about authority in the military.
He then says that three weeks later, when his aircraft carrier was in Hong Kong harbor, they were ordered to return to Vietnam. “We were about to engage in a large military operation near the DMZ…” It would be unlikely that the details of an operation would be revealed to military personnel who were ashore in Hong Kong. For secrecy, such details are usually only revealed once the ship leaves the shore.
“I never returned to my ship. To this day, that was one of the hardest decisions I had to make. I trembled for hours as I walked the streets with my mind screaming. I was called a coward and a traitor by some of the other pilots. I realized it was not the most honorable way to handle my refusal to fight any more. But I also knew I could not fight and kill simply because I had been ordered to do so. What the other pilots never understood was that for me to fly and kill again would have been the coward’s way out.”
Well! Now that’s a heck of a passage! Not returning to your ship when ordered to do so is desertion. One of my readers said Kiyosaki appeared to be trying to claim that he was a “conscientious deserter”—a new phrase.
I hesitate to say that he is confessing to that. It is one of the most serious crimes in the military. But it is hard to find any other explanation in this passage. The fact that his peers called him a coward and a traitor suggests that explanation or possibly turning into a conscientious objector while on the streets of Hong Kong. I requested his military records from the National Archives.
Kiyosaki military records
Robert Toru Kiyosaki was a US Naval Reserve officer from 6/4/69 to 10/3/70 reaching the rank of lieutenant j.g. Then he switched to the Marine Corps from 10/4/70 to 6/30/74 and was honorably discharged as a first lieutenant.
He was awarded an air medal for “courage and devotion to duty in the face of hazardous flying conditions” during combat support missions in Vietnam from 6/16/72 to 10/19/72, as well as several other medals which appear to be merely for being in the military or being in Vietnam. I have several such medals myself. For example, you get the Vietnam Service Medal for setting foot in the country. Kiyosaki has that with 2 Bronze Battle Stars. Bronze battle stars are for being in country during certain campaign time periods.
Also, civilians should know that all military medals have criteria and citations that make them sound very heroic. In fact, the vast majority of medals with subjective criteria are probably awarded to guys who did little more than serve at a particular place and time. For example, in 1965, when I was a West Point cadet, I and everyone else in the military at the time was suddenly awarded the National Defense Service medal. We called it the “I was alive in ’65” medal. We also had a joke about its colors: “The red is for the blood we never shed. The blue is for the oceans we never crossed and the yellow is the reason why.”
A Vietnam-era Marine fighter pilot told me an air medal means twenty missions (flights) in a combat area (like the entire country of Vietnam and environs) Really!? Then I think the Army owes me an air medal or two. My jobs in Vietnam required me to travel around to widely scattered bases—which I did in Hueys, Loches, Chinooks, and C-130’s. It never occurred to me that I should get a medal for it and I will not be trying to get any now.
The “military education” portion of his record lists only “Fwd. Air Control Airborne Course, Officer Fam. Course, and Leadership Training.” None of those sound like pilot school, but he had to have been in the air in some capacity to get an air medal (any crew member of an aircraft can get an Air Medal). The air medal citation describes him as a “Naval Aviator with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 164.” “Naval Aviator” means he was a pilot according to a Marine major who is a pilot. However, it seems odd for a person to graduate from military pilot training, which takes multiple, lengthy courses and for their military record not to show that training.
Also, if Kiyosaki was a pilot, his list of awards and decorations should include an “Aviator’s Badge,” commonly known as a pilot’s wings. His list does not include any wings.
The air medal citation says “The Numeral ‘1’ to represent One Strike/Flight Award is authorized.” The meaning of this varied from unit to unit and time to time. In some units, it could be merely for a guy taking a ride in an aircraft with minimal duties, especially in 1972. Almost all U.S. military personnel were removed from Vietnam on 3/28/73. The last major combat units left in the summer of 1972. Kiyosaki’s Air Medal was for the period June to October, 1972. The Air Medal Citation was signed by Louis H. Wilson, Lieutenant General, U.S. Marine Corps, Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. Perhaps he or a member of his staff at that time could clarify what this medal really involved.
His place of separation was “Kaneone Bay, HI.” I think they mean Kaneohe.
I need some help understanding his chronological record of duty assignments—too many cryptic abbreviations. Perhaps veterans of the Navy or Marines can help translate this or tell me where to find an explanation of the abbreviations. Here is what they sent me:
From
To
Unit
10/4/70
4/30/71
MATSG, NABTC, NAS, PNC, A, FLF
5/12/71
7/14/71
HML-267, MAG-56, 3dMAW MCB CamPen
7/15/71
1/15/72
710715 REDSIG to HML-267M 3DMAW MCB CAMPEN CALIF 920 CG 3DMAW MSG 082245Z JUL 7
1/22/72
3/30/72
HML-367 MAG 36 1st MAW FPO SFRAN 96602
3/31/72
4/19/72
HMM-164, MAG-36, 1st MAW FPO SFRAN 96602
4/20/72
5/10/72
HML-367 MAG-36 1st MAW FMF Pac FPO SFRAN 96602
5/23/72
1/3/73
HMM-164, MAG-36, 1st MAW, FMF Pac FPO SFRAN
2/6/73
5/30/74
H&MS-24, MAG-24, 1st MarBde, FMF
7/1/74
6/30/74
MCPFAA, KSC, MO ASL

Dis

I suspect I can figure out some of the abbreviations:
NABTC = Naval Aviators Basic Training Course
PNC = Pensacola, FL
NAS = Naval Air Station
MAG = Military Aircraft Group
MAW = Marine Aircraft Wing
FMF = Fleet Marine Force
HML and HMM designate helicopter squadrons
CamPen = Camp Pendleton
REDSIG = redesignated
Calif = California
CG = commanding general
Z = zulu indicating a time zone
FPO SFRAN 96602 = Fleet Post Office San Francisco ZIP code 96602 (Mailing address for Vietnam)
pac = Pacific
MarBde = Marine Brigade
Dis = discharged
If you can confirm any of these and/or help me with the others, I would appreciate it. Also, persons who served in similar units can read between the lines and interpret this record. I hope I hear from such persons. I was in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970, but in the Army. I know little about the Marine Corps.
If NABTC means Naval Aviators Basic Training Course, why would it not be on his military education? Maybe because he was assigned there, but did not graduate.
A combat pilot reader sent me the following:
At this point, I think he was [a helicopter pilot], but I would like to see some definitive proof. HML means helicopter Marine light. HML-267 was a training squadron in 1971. In 1972, HMM-164 flew CH-46D Sea Knights, CH-53D, and UH-1E. In 1972, HML-367 flew UH-1E, LPD-9, AH-1G, and AH-1J aircraft. H&MS is a Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron. In 1972, HMM-164 was on board the USS Okinawa, a helicopter carrier.
A recent Naval Academy grad also thinks he must have been a pilot because of the way the Marines are organized and Kiyosaki’s assignments.
We still are not sure. It would take access to some records other than the ones I got through the Freedom of Information Act. I am a little surprised that I have not heard from anyone in his unit.
Now that we know the name of the ship, we can obtain its log through the Freedom of Information Act, but I am not that interested because Kiyosaki came back off his conscientious deserter story in the Smart Money Magazine article. He now admits he was just one of hundreds of sailors and Marines who missed the boat when it unexpectedly left early.
His military records also contain the following “Combat History—Expeditions.”
From
To
Details
5/24/72
5/25/72
OP SONG THANH 6-72
6/29/72
7/1/72
OP LOMSON 72 Phase-1 RVN This was a major operation by the South Vietnamese military with some U.S. air power support.
7/11/72
7/12/72
OP LOMSON 72 Phase-2 RVN This was a major operation by the South Vietnamese military with some U.S. air power support.
7/11/72
7/12/72
OP SONG THAN 9A-72 RVN
7/24/72
8/29/72
Participated in special search and rescue operations with 31st MAU in the contiguous waters of RVN
9/29/72
10/21/72
Participated in special search and rescue operations with 31st MAU in the contiguous waters of RVN

OP = Operation?
RVN = Republic of Vietnam
contiguous waters of RVN = ocean off the coast
SONG THANH and LOMSON = probably Vietnamese villages or provinces
The Marines often listed combat expeditions on a serviceman’s military record even though he had nothing to do directly with the operation in question. It may only mean that some other members of his unit were involved. These combat expeditions could appear on your record even if you were on R&R in Hawaii during the whole operation.
I would not have looked into his military records at all were it not for the strange story about not shooting a boy and refusing to return to his ship. Now I am trying to figure out whether his accounts in his books jibe with his military records. My preliminary conclusion is that the whole melodramatic story of not going back to the ship seems not to be supported by his military records. Based on his military education records, he appears to be an air crew member, not a pilot, although his rank and assignment to helicopter units suggests he was, indeed, a pilot. He also appears to have had a Vietnam tour, but without either distinction or misconduct. His decorations, including the air medal, are all analogous to the gold stars kids get in school for attendance. That is, they are for being somewhere or for being somewhere for a certain period of time.
Here’s is an email I got from a former Marine:
I couldn’t help but notice that he was attached to H&MS-24 (Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron-24) Marine Air Group 24, 1st Marine Brigade. MAG-24 was the entire air group with H&MS-24 as maintenance support efforts. They include support such as airframes, avionics, ordinance, which was my military occupational specialty (#6541). [Kiyosaki] also said that he was 1st Marine Brigade. Brigade was ground side. Grunts, infantry, artillery. There is no way for him to have been both airwing and ground at the same time without changing M.O.S. [Reed note: I do not know Marine procedures during Vietnam, but Kiyosaki seems to have been trained as a forward observer to direct artillery and/or air support at ground targets. Forward observers are typically attached to infantry or artillery units.] A Marine major said this M.O.S. is for an enlisted man and that he did not believe the man’s comments would apply to officers.