'War Stories' Have Some Facing Prison

The Oklahoman (via Military.com) ^ | August 18, 2008 | unsigned

[Interesting Times]

John Smith said he was a Navy SEAL who was imprisoned in Vietnam after his helicopter was shot down.

Troy Brodrick spoke in schools about his 30-year military career in which he earned three Purple Hearts and flew President Eisenhower as an Air Force One pilot.

William Whitely, a former University of Oklahoma professor, told stories of his career as a Navy SEAL while he served as a mentor to Naval ROTC students who wanted to follow in his footsteps.

Trouble is, they were lying.

Smith, Brodrick and Whitely are among a growing nest of military imposters, people who make up military careers or exaggerate their service.

Such lies might seem harmless, especially when legitimate veterans have been known to tell aggrandized tales to make their service seem a bit more exciting. But it's a source of frustration for those who truly earned such accolades, and in many cases it's a violation of federal law.

[Bender2]

Well, I was a Pink Beret... You'd be surprised how many surrendered to me!

Gadzooks! Did I say that... out loud?

[Army Air Corps]

This thread reminds of the opening scene in Trading Places when Eddie Murphy’s charcter is running a scam as a disabled Vietnam vet and a cop nails him on his story.

[SolitaryMan]

Sorry, he was missing all of the hardware when he left. Probably would have seen him in the local Army/Navy store the next day....

This was back in the Tom Cruise, Top Gun day....

[Oldexpat]

I was told that the only decoration that most WWII Infantry guys wanted to wear was the Combat Infrantrymen’s’s Badge which was silver and blue musket. That was the only thing in my Dad’s old foot locker from WWII. I still have that sterling silver badge.
In the Navy, we didn’t get that, but they started the Combat Action Ribbon during VN.
The creeps that steal the valor are beneath contempt.
Kerry would have not had any problem if he had downplayed his service, but when he tried to make himself into more than just a guy who served..he ran into problems.

[Sarajevo]

These fakers disgust me

[Sarajevo]

My high school was using manual typewriters in 1981. It certainly teaches a good clean keystroke!

Geez! My ODA had a manual typewriter until we finally were issued computers in 1992.

[cartoonistx]

...most of those in the World War II generation talked very little about their service...

My father, too, spoke sparingly of his service. As I grew up it fell to my maternal grandmother to speak of her son-in-law's bravery to my brother and I... how he earned his two purple hearts and his bronze star...how he was among the first across the bridge at Remagen...many things that we should know. It wasn't until I took him to see Saving Private Ryan that Dad opened up about his service, so moved was he by that film's message...Earn It! He died in 2001 (before he would have had to see America attacked on her soil again, Thank God.) He didn't have time to finish dictating his memoirs.

[Interesting Times]

- Who's that? Who's there?

- Police! We've had complaints about con men pretending to be blind and crippled.

- I ain't seen nothing since I stepped on that landmine in Vietnam. It was very painful.

- You were in 'Nam? So were we. Where?

- I was in... Sang Bang... Dang Gong... I was all over the place, a lot of places.

- What unit?

- I was with the Green Berets, Special Unit Battalions... Commando Airborne Tactics... Specialist Tactics Unit Battalion. Yeah, it was real hush hush. I was Agent Orange, Special Agent Orange, that was me.

- Airborne, huh?

- I can see! I can see! I have...I have legs. I have... Oh shit, look at this. Legs! I can walk. Jesus, praise Jesus.I appreciate this. Oh, this is beautiful. I can't believe... Thank you.

[Nam Vet]

Ah yes. Doesn’t it remind you when we served together in the Confederate 3rd Division back in 63.

I rode with James Ewell Brown (JEB) Stuart's 1st Virginia Cavalry. I musta rode by y'all a hundred times.

Nam Vet

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[zot]

Thanks for the ping. Senator John Kerry not only claims medals he didn’t earn, he also claimed one that never existed (Silver Star with V for Valor).

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[newhouse]

most of those that served didn’t talk about it

Did not about WW1 either. The only comment my dad ever said referred to the “butchers” sent to practice on the wounded when I referred to a really good surgeon I worked with later, that had served in Viet Nam. Supposedly Dad’s records were in the fire in was it St Louis back in the late 1970s. So I really only knew what I could see. Which was considerable.

[IncPen]

ping

[infowarrior]

I take reasonable pride in my 13 years of Naval Service, but God knows I didn’t do anything heroic or earth-shaking in that time.

Same here, although my service was a year longer, and in the Army. Closest I ever came to *heroism* is that I might have helped save a few lives during one tour of duty where I had the opportunity to infrequently fly kidneys destined for transplant from the place I was station to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. The rest? Just doing my job, as best I could...

the infowarrior

[E.G.C.]

BTTT

[Ronin]

I may have saved a few lives by refusing to cross-rate to Mess Management Specialist when they tried to talk me into it. Goodness sakes! I am a pretty good cook now, but at 17 years old I would have probably wiped out half the ship.

[driftless2]

"wife's ancestry"

My English-raised wife's mother claimed that they were related to the Duke Of Wellington. Yes, that Duke of Wellington. I asked my wife if she could provide any documentation to back that claim up. So far none has been forthcoming.

[RipSawyer]

“Oh yeah? Well not to brag or anything- but I was the 301st Spartan Hopelite at Thermopylae.”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You realize of course that now we must assume that you are gay like the other 300?

[VietVet]

Ain’t reenacting wonderful?

VietVet