Earlier this year Buds131, the popular stolen valor channel run by retired SEAL Don Shipley, was taken down for Terms of Service violations. But now, several months later, Shipley has launched a new channel that he says will supplement the stolen valor work he does on his personal website.
Shipley tells Connecting Vets being off of YouTube limited his reach, but he never stopped going after those who pretended to have earned the trident. Still, while he is returning to the world's largest video platform, Shipley says it won't be his primary focus.
"I will never fully go back to YouTube the way I had been," Shipley said during an appearance on the Eye on Veterans radio show. "It just was 7 or 8 hard years of work that they just flushed."
YouTube terminates popular Stolen Valor channel
Instead he will use the new channel, FormerBuds131, to put clips up and direct people to his Extreme Seal Experience website. The membership fees from which will help fund his non-profit work which brings wounded warriors to Warrior's Rest, his property in Maryland, to hunt and fish.
Don Shipley on the latest phony SEAL debacle
Shipley posted one video on the channel in March, but plans to upload more.
In the end, Shiply says his main concern is helping people identify fraudulent SEAL and SpecOps claims (and the occasional verification, as seen above) and invites them to contact him through his website if they have questions about someone.
You can hear the full interview with Don Shipley below.