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Welcome to ScamWarners happyandhealthy and thank you for posting this information. Yes indeed you have a scammer. The scammer's real name isn't Joe Pederson, that is just a name the scammer chose to sound legitimate.

I hope you have stopped communicating with him. All he wants to do is set you up to send him money. As you appear to know, military personnel do not need a letter from anyone to get their leave. They earn the leave from their time of service. There is never a fee to the military person for leave.