Interesting discussion at Smoky-D's BBQ bar this evening while I waited for my kids to finish their piano lessons. A gentleman bought a round for the Army Reserve group meeting in a private room there. He told me a few things about himself: 1) He said he was a retired 0-7, yet he was terribly overweight and did not carry himself as a General Officer would. 2) He claimed to have flown a thousand hours in Huey helicopters, starting in 1987, but could not tell me the exact models he flew. 3) He told me he flew "our" Marines into the Falkland Islands during the war, but that was in 1982. 4) He claimed to have flown in combat in Saudi, Afghanistan and other places, yet he was a construction engineer. When I asked further if he was a civil engineer, expecting him to correct me and tell me either he was in the Corps of Engineers or a combat engineer, he did not.

All of us who are Veterans or who have done aything serious with our lives are guilty of what Jack Kemp said about his pro football career, that was "the longer I'm gone, the better I was", but this guy was clearly not drunk, he was just a BS'er.

Yup some people are lame.

lying about military service is a slap in the face to people who actually served. If you have to make yourself sound more interesting to strangers why not make up a story about something else.

i wish living as a vet was as popular as claiming to have been one here in america...  i'd enjoy our culture much more if that were true and practiced...

Now that is very well said.

Out of the park Michael...

It's saddens me that some guys think they have to come up with great stories about themselves that they've never done (or in this case wouldn't have even had the chance to do even if they were in the military) just to get some attention. The way these pretenders are so easily outted by actual veterans makes me wonder why they even bother. Why don't they just claim that they helped invent (fill in the blank) invention that everyone uses? OR better yet, not lie at all and actually go do something with their lives that they can be proud of?

sig line material right there

I'm not usually a silver linings guys, but at least he bought the reservists a round.

I'm not a veteran (thanks to those of you who served).

People who claim to be veterans that aren't do bother me though because my friends and family who did serve deserve to not have their honor besmirched by B.S.ers.

And it is entirely likely that the guy the OP is talking about is indeed a faker...  And I am not pointing a finger that anything was done wrong in this case..  BUT...

Just a bit of caution that stolen valour claims should not be made lightly either...

https://military.id.me/stolen-valor/vietnam-veteran-accused-of-stolen-valor-by-younger-marines-attacked-in-airport/

Several parts of the BS'ers story did not match with what could be considered "in the realm of possibilities".

Those of us who served, and perhaps still are in some unusual capacity, can usually spot a fake.