I worked with a client on numerous projects each year. Smart, quiet, skinny but in great shape (and older). One time we were out hacking out some lines in the woods. One of his partners was talking and swearing most of the time as we hacked through the brush in the heat.
“Just like F-ing Vietnam, hey Bob!?”
“Oh, were you guys in Vietnam together?”
“No - I was a grunt and Bob was Special Forces.”
“Special Forces? Up in the mountains training the locals and leading operations?”
“Yep - that was Bob. He was a real badass!”
Bob didn’t say anything, just quietly went about his work.
The posers talk too much and the real badasses don’t hardly talk at all.
CC