I guess part of it is just human nature.
Since I graduated from high school in 1965, I have noticed that just about every boy played football and an amazing percentage could run the 100 in under 10 seconds.
I suspect that claiming to be an elite warrior has always been common. In ancient Athens, Demosthenes almost single handedly persuaded the Athenians to fight Philip of Macedon.
Several people noticed that he was one of the first to run at the battle of Charonea.
I remember one Summer we had a really good softball team. One guy claimed to have been offered by the St. Louis Cardinals. watching him practice, I noted he really did have all the right motions etc. There was only one problem. He kept dropping balls and making bad throws etc. He was not even high school quality. His letter jacket had MGR across the letter. He told me that meant “most games recorded” instead of manager.
I really can’t understand someone claiming to be a seal tho. It would be so easy to catch him.
good one!
here goes my seal story...
when I was in boot camp (1973) they allowed everyone to try out for the SEALS- if you did not try out- you got to clean more shi...rs or other crazy nonsense. so most tried
out ( there actually was quite a few that were going to try
out for the BUDS/UDT teams-and they got time to run and train.)- so after watching a hokey film - that is still shown to this DAY of a Seal creeping up out of the water!!
(LOL what’s up with that?)
they told us what to do:
swim so many laps in such amount of time (4x75 meter?)
pushups in so much time
pullups..
situps..
And over a 1 mile run..
so me and I guy I met from Wisconsin are listening to
this Master chief tell us how he wants to see us swim-
NO over hand strokes, NO splashing (really wanted to see
the Seal swim recovery stroke - Which is a modified side
stroke)- asked if there were any questions- like a dufus
I raised my hand - “could I swim under water after diving
in??”
YES stupid!!- walk UNDER WATER FOR THE FULL TEST!!- just Don’t Splash-
Well, I was a very good swimmer- they blew the whistle and dived in..swam under water all the way to the opposite
wall kicked off and came up- ... yep everyone is still heading my way - this is where it gets interesting-—
They assigned an instructor to watch ME- and he was right there when I finished - (quite a few of the most burly guys
I have seen were floundering- with laps to go) Pushups,
situps, pullups -no problem- that ++ mile was a killer for
me- but I think I was still the first guy in my group.
So I get done and they ask me to go see the senior chief.. they are impressed with my academic score- then take a close lookat my pyhsical - (I have a severe hearing
loss in my right ear-) never seen anyone get so pissed-
needless to say , was not asked to even try out for BUDS.-
My Friend from wisconsin?- did great- had vision like
40- 200 or such- they got pissed at him too.
We thought it was a FUN time -AND did not have to clean any Shi...ers.
Went on to become an airdale- fixing radars