Stolen Valor

[toptiger]

I think some of the vets here know about this issue - ie guys claiming medals they didn't earn, service they didn't give, wounds they never received... etc.... there is a good book out by the same title that covers some of the cases and the issue in general.
Anyway, thinking about someone attacking Bob Amon's service record, even though i didn't read the posts on the g-03 site, got me thinking ... i have run into fake VN vet guys, SF fakes, Seal fakes, even had a guy present himself for a job once in a toupee and thick glasses who told me with a straight face he was a USAF Top Gun Pilot in the service a few years before. I always call them on it. They make it so simple, like for instance who doesn't know what a p-38 was in VN and what it did? ...if he was there or even in the service back then he would know.
Anyway, just the other day my barber, a goofy relocated california gal married now some 3 times {she has to be 65 or so now but was obviously a babe back them} was telling me of her husband's service in VN back in the 50s with the Seals. Tales of rape, sneak attacks, close friends killed and wounded, pt boats....etc {ie the whole Kerry bs as he testified to congress - an insult to all of us}.....
anyway, back to my story - so as she continued my back started to come up and i listened more closely, then started questioning some of it. I ended up telling her that as far as i know it was all a lot of bs. he was a fake and a lier. She denied it saying he told the same stories over and over so 'they had to be true'. I asked for his phone number. no good, he was dead... oops, i said 'sorry about that' and tried to stop the conversation. But later on she meekly asked me if i really felt it was all lies. I said I knew the Seals were created by Kennedy's initiative in like 62 when he did the same thing for the SF {BTW how could he have ahd a brother like Ted?}. So quite simply he could not have been a Seal, But I told her i would call her after checking the details on the net when i got home if i was wrong about it. I didn't have to call back...
Just the other month a guy was convicted of wearing and claiming all over that he was a Congressional Medal of Honor winner. Finally some vets had enough of that and put the FBI onto him- result? he was sentenced to many months of community service - get this...maintaining the grave sites of real vets in a local cemetery. Good call, Judge, much better than a small jail term.

[M151-LC]

I am never much into the politics of this game people play, but it does piss me off when people claim they have gone and done things they have not done! Most times when I was still in uni-form someone would come up and speak about things, I know as a Vet, we almost never openly discuss to anyone!

Hell I almost never speak to other Vet's I served with or have known over the years about such things, why would I be open to speak with them with so fool I have never met before. Your point was direct and to the point and I am glad to see someone else besides me and a few other guys I know can read through the Bull crap.

This maybe a little off topic from your post, but it's how I have come to terms with my anger, pain and even guilt I suppose dealing with this issue, as I said above I almost never openly discuss such matters in open but I feel this can be said without going to deep into any of our shared war related past events.

I don't openly speak about most of the things I have seen or done over the years, not with freinds or family or even the VA Shrink...LOL. To me it is deeply personal and no ones buiness. I have found talking about any war related topics is not healthy for me! I find most things are best left buried in the past, out of sight out of mind to be honest. I used to belong to the VFW and discovered it was nothing more then a drunk tank of guys who could not completly let the wars they served in go.

I ended up feeling pity for these guys I met at the VFW as well as pitty and maybe anger inside myself as well. Many of these guys can't seem to grasp something I learned over the years and it was it was either them or me! It's not easy to let certain aspects of war go I know well, I still have nightmares, nights of endless sweat and on Holidays like the Forth of July and New Years fire works still bother me as I know it bothers quite a few Vets for example.

For me it was my faith and love for my children and Grandchildren, those little fingers and toes and that gentle side of life so easy to forget and overlook in a world as unforgiving as the world we live in. That is how I found peace again letting all that love in instead of resisting it a so many of of us as Veteran's do. I know in those early days I did resist getting close to anyone my wife and children most of all. Your Post moved me Top Tiger, thank you for taking the time to say what was on your mind.

[Spectre623]

I have read the book " Stolen Valor" and as Glenn Beck likes to say "It will make blood shoot out of your eyes". All vets should read this book as well as non vets just to see how our blood, sweat and tears are being stolen and our service cheapened by these impostors who didn't have the guts to do the REAL thing!. I salute all you vets on this board and thank you for your service. Bill, C-130 Crew chief Cam Ranh Bay Vietnam 69-70 . PS Toptiger I used a P-38 on many a can of C's, still love the beenie-weenies with a plastic spoon to this day. Ha ha

[Rainman]

Since this thread has continued with comments shared, my turn
to speak up. It's all disturbing, but here's my beef. When was
the last time you guys had your gut twisted, when some
unknowing soul wished you a "Happy Memorial Day"?

I parade with my M151, last year in 3 parades. My 2 passengers are
always, a veteran I respect, and closest to my heart, my cousins
posthumous purple heart in the back seat on display. On Memorial
Day, as Veterans Day, I pay my respects. Sure, I share my
patriotism with others, I even smile, wave, and occasionally return
a salute from the crowd. But a "happy Memorial Day" it is not. It
is clouded with the memories of those that have fallen, or since
passed. We all have stories we share, and many have stories they
have buried along with their buddies. Stolen valor, forgotten days of
observation, and long weekends for misunderstood holidays, it all
hurts. I'm climbing off the soapbox now...

And to all, a good night!

Rainman

[M151-LC]

I have never had someone come up and say Happy Memorial Day, but man that would be kind of a strange thing to say man!

Maybe it was just good intention on the behlaf of the person who said it.

I find myself very quiet on both Holidays, a reserved personal time for me to reflect on my buddies that did not come home with me.

A soul searching time where I always seem to ask myself why I made it home and they did not.

You can find yourself asking God these same questions over and over.

I defer from speaking much on these topics evn as I grow older in life

I pray for the souls of those men I knew and for those men I never knew all the same it is human nature to try and find Peace and resolution.

Enough said.

Oh on a lighter note, I bet you could power a Nuclear submarine on left over C-Rats...LOL

[toptiger]

Rainman and HK {aka M151LC and Bledynn}. thanks for sharing your deepest, most personal thoughts which i share completely but could never put to words as well as you two have done.
To our departed friends, never forgotten.

[k8icu]

I had a guy once tell me he was a "Navy Blue Seal". He also told me that he was commissioned a O3 (LT) in the navy. I asked him for a copy of his DD-214 which is your record of service awards etc. It said disharged E-3 no awards no nada. He said well because of being in the blue seals all his records were classified and therefor that's all he had. Needless to say my BS meter was pegged, but I went and asked a couple of Navy seals (real ones who were on active duty) that I know at the time and they were like Joe what do you think and I'm like BS all the way they are like yep. They said even if he had been in some top secret stuff the 214 would still show his medals, his courses and his proper rank. Next time I saw the guy I told him he was so full of shat his eyes were brown!

[Rainman]

Hey Joe,
I have a few errors on my DD214 that I'd like to correct, but
not worth the time or the trouble. My marksmanship awards
were never updated after basic, so I never show qualification
for M-60 and M-203, both of which I carried for awhile. Also
got a GC "good conduct", after almost 3 years that's not on
there either. I still have the orders for it, but it's not on the
DD214. I have my stuff in a shadowbox on the wall, and
though accurate, does not follow my DD214 to the letter. But
my rank and MOS qualifications are there big as life.

I was a little surprised when talking to John the radio tech, that
you were like an O-3 or O-4 yourself. Bet that shows on your 214.

Glad to see you here Joe, when are we gonna see pictures of that
A1 I saw in your garage? I got a light front for that siren you gave
me. Maybe too big for my 64 Kaiser, but still very cool.

Rainman