User Panel
User Panel
User Panel
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 10:30:23 AM EDT
My brother and I were upgarding our cell phones today. While we're at the store waiting for them to get everything transferred to the new phones this guy walks in and starts asking us all these questions about our new phones. Finally, another sales person comes to help him and he just starts voluntering all this information about how his daughter is supposedly some big wig at Microsoft and his son is a Marine.
There was no reason at all for him to be telling the sales person this at all. She didn't ask, he just starts talking. To me, when someone does that it's a dead give away that the person is full of it. He was going on an on telling tall tales about his kids. So, finally we get done and walk out of the store and this guy comes out and says something like,"Hey you guys must be doing pretty well getting those nice phones." I said, "Well they're company phones. The business is paying for them." So he asks what we do and I tell him that my family owns an optics company. In the split second that that tid bit of info came out of my mouth I remembered all the BS he was talking in the store and thought,"I bet anything this guy says he was former special forces." Well, what do you know. Next thing he says is that he was "SF back in Nam"  and that they were using "Zeiss fifty tens to shoot VC at 3000 meters."Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight....I assume that by "fifty tens" he meant a 10x50 rifle scope. Sure...3000 meters with 10x magnification. Or was that 50x magnification and a 10mm objective?  Talk about exit pupil! (or lack thereof)I wish I was quicker on the draw. In retrospect I should have baited him with something like,"What? Only 3000 meters? That's just standard infantry range. I would think SF could at least hit out to 9000." I need to carry around some extra Space Shuttle Door Gunner patches just for instances like that. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 10:38:59 AM EDT
[#1]
They're everywhere. Last year a guy walked up to me and claimed to be: 1) MOH recipient 2) POW in Nam for many years 3) USMC Colonel (ret) Funny how is name is nowhere to be found on any of the POW or MOH websites out there. I guess his is classified. By the way, what optics company are you referring to? |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 10:48:31 AM EDT
[#2]
There I was, knee deep in the shit on a Top-Secret Ultra Classified mission to assassinate a VC General in Laos..........................
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 10:49:29 AM EDT
[#3]
Even though he's not SF anymore, there is no doubt that he's still "special."
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 10:53:16 AM EDT
[#4]
I run into 'Snipers' on a daily basis. Why is it that you never meet a cook?
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 10:54:57 AM EDT
[#5]
As is the wearing of any military medal not awarded. A guy at work got the FBI involved with a poser who was wearing the Medal of Honor on his bike jacket and claiming he was in the 'nam. My friend was in Viet Nam and started asking the hard questions like where the guy was stationed and where he saw action ...  . My friend calls  and looks up the guys name on the roster. You guessed it - secret mission . Again my friend calls and tell the poser to remove the medal several times and nothing will happen. Dude doesn't remove it so friend calls the local FBI office who pays poser a visit and arrests him. There is honor with being a cook, mechanic, or special forces ... don't screw it up.I never was a SEAL. Never worked with a SEAL even on a secret mission. But did talk to a few and had more than one meal with them. 
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 10:58:53 AM EDT
[#6]
What an ass.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 11:00:49 AM EDT
[#7]
Yup everyone is SF and no one ever cooks the meals. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 11:01:16 AM EDT
[#8]
Yep, it is.... Link |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 11:01:42 AM EDT
[#9]
+1 They should be kicked out of this country. Oh, and I think impersonating an officer is criminal as well. |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 11:11:54 AM EDT
[#10]
Maybe he was Special Special Forces. At least he didn't say he was a Green Beret.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 11:18:35 AM EDT
[#11]
Damn. I was hoping for a good ol' ARFCOM outing a 'la SF_Chris .
 |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 11:21:55 AM EDT
[#12]
When I met him, the guy kind of looked the part (still in decent shape, USMC belt buckle, etc) but flags go up automatically around anyone who brags about that stuff, so I thanked him for his service and asked him his name as we shook hands. His name is not on any official websites I checked, nor were any other potential spellings of it. Conclusion: Scumbag. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 11:27:11 AM EDT
[#13]
maybe when he said he "served" with Special Forces, he really meant he was a food service specialist and worked in the chow hall and served SF hot meals?
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 11:28:49 AM EDT
[#14]
I was talking with a Fort Worth cop & I noticed he had one of the bibles they passed out at Fort Bragg (Airborne wings on the cover). I thought, "cool, another trooper."
I asked him if he was a paratrooper (pointing to his bible). He said, "I was Special Forces." So, believing him, I began asking a few standard, friendly questions - nothing inquisitive like I was doubting him. He got tripped up on a few & it hit me that he was lying. He could tell I knew he was BSing me (especially after telling him a little about my background) so he fessed up to dropping out of SFAS before the course even started. He cited some "family emergency." I really don't care what anyone did in the military. If you served as a laundry specialist or an 18A, I appreciate your service & sacrifice. No need to lie. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 11:37:54 AM EDT
[#15]
Thanks for the link. I guess at this time, it is only illegal for an inposter to WEAR the MOH...sadly, not merely 'claim' to be a recipient. Could get one's ass kicked, if done in front of the wrong/right folks! I woud like to see the CMOHS get their amendment to Title 18, Chapter 3, § 174 of the U.S. Code passed. That would include "claiming to be a recipient" under the code. |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 11:38:03 AM EDT
[#16]
Hey...I remember you...we were REALLY in the knee deep shit that day.......
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 11:50:59 AM EDT
[#17]
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 12:05:29 PM EDT
[#18]
You should have just called him a baby killer.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 1:02:52 PM EDT
[#19]
+1 I know some jobs aren't as glamorous, but damn. Those jobs have to get done too. Someone has to cook, clean, do payroll, etc., or those in combat can't function. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 1:15:34 PM EDT
[#20]
I actually knew a guy who actually WAS SF in Nam...
He was a Marine in Force Recon and did three tours. Said it was like three different wars every time he went back. First he was there as an advisor, and the second two times, doing the nitty gritty. He doesn't brag, doesn't boast... very nice guy. I knew him for a couple years before I knew what he did in 'Nam... |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 1:32:31 PM EDT
[#21]
|
||
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 2:09:19 PM EDT
[#22]
Well, that's not true. My grandfater only ever told me (or anyone that I've asked since) that he was a cook for the Army. Even with all the times I asked, the most I ever heard was that he was in north Africa and went up through Italy. After he died, though, I have to wonder... How does a cook earn a bronze star? He also had a couple of other medals, but I can't remember what they were (he died 15 years ago). One guy that I wish would have talked. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 2:12:43 PM EDT
[#23]
Short balding guy named Gerry? |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 2:28:00 PM EDT
[#24]
At my college ROTC department, one of the instructors was a Major who had been SF in Vietnam. Very, very cool guy...and most of all, a very QUIET guy. You wouldn't have known he had ever been in combat, much less in SF, if someone else didn't tell you. He never bragged about it and only talked about it if you came right out and asked him.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 2:29:52 PM EDT
[#25]
I would also bet that if some guy tells you he is ''former'' he is full of shit,they dont consider themselves former anything.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 2:39:52 PM EDT
[#26]
The quiet ones are the real ones. My dad was a helicopter medic in the 25th 66-67. You can't get him to talk about it if you wanted to.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 2:42:14 PM EDT
[#27]
|
||
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 2:45:13 PM EDT
[#28]
I am in special forces. Delta Force Black Project. I have fought in Vietnam as well and am only 21. We have a time machine
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 2:47:31 PM EDT
[#29]
I worked with a security guard that would tell every person he saw that he was a Navy Seal. He was old enough that you just let him go on with it. When he would start on his 'Nam stories, I would just have to leave the area or die laughing.
I did AIT at JFKSWC, met a lot of SF, got to know the type. I don't think many of them would tell every stranger they see they are SF. I shook hands with one MOH recipient at his book signing, the greatest honor of my life meeting such a person that represented the 7 Army Values. To even think there are people so low to lie and say they were awarded the MOH makes me absolutely sick. As a fact, falsely stating such a thing is the absolute opposite of those values! |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 2:50:30 PM EDT
[#30]
I was talking to a high school friend's younger brother years ago and he was a cook in the Navy. Only he claimed that he was in the Phillipines and single-handedly captured a bunch of terrorists, but because the Navy was too embarassed to say the cook caught them before special forces got there, it was classified. 
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 2:55:39 PM EDT
[#31]
I've read a lot about the war on all fronts, and I do know what things were like in the areas that I've been able to place him. I just wish I knew... well, I wish I knew my grandpa better before he died, I guess. I've also found a few letters that his brothers (My great uncles) wrote home from the Pacific front. My favorite line is from great-uncle Bud, who I knew vaguely before he died. He was involved in the island leapfroggings, and most likely would have been among the first waves into mainland Japan. "Those a-bombs sure were honeys, weren't they?" |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 2:56:27 PM EDT
[#32]
Wasn't that a Steven Seagal movie???
|
||
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 3:14:15 PM EDT
[#33]
It's a good thing he took care of that. I really meant to do it, but I had laundry to do that night. hinking.gif |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 5:20:33 PM EDT
[#34]
Yep, seems like all the real deal guys are the quiet ones when it comes to talking about what they did in the service. This guy was just blabbering to anyone that would listen. Oh, and he certainly didn't look the part either. I realize that VN was a long time ago, but still... ...not to make fun of people who are overweight, but if I would have shoved this guy I don't think he would have fallen over. He probably would have just rolled into the parking lot... |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 6:02:24 PM EDT
[#35]
I work around alot of vets and i think the funniest thing i ever heard was this guy i knew talking about just getting back from Iraq. I asked him what he did and he told me he had the best fuckign jjob of all; throwing ice in the mess hall. He said for an entire year he unloaded an ice truck to make sure other marines had ice with their meals and that he never saw combat, never fired his rifle, never saw the enemy, but did kick alot of "ice" ass.
I always get a kick out of his stories cause he is the only one who isnt bragging about 2000 yd kills with a 22 rifle and other dumb shit like htat. So every so often i guess a guy does meet a "cook." |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 6:15:47 PM EDT
[#36]
I'm always suprised by the people who refuse to talk about their time serving. My father worked as a radar repairman in the US durring vietnam. When i interviewed him about it in highschool he wouldnt even tell me the slightest details such as his unit. I had to look them up myself in old pictures.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 6:20:38 PM EDT
[#37]
I have had the "pleasure" of meeting many Special Forces and "secret missions " guys
You can tell they are lying from the get go. I have a good friend that got back from Iraq a few months ago.. he wouldn't really go into detail on the things he did or seen but he did say his squad went house to house looking for IED's. he wasn't SF and is the first to say so. the people that were REALLY there don't have to make shit up.. you can tell by their eyes. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 6:29:47 PM EDT
[#38]
I was the only American who served an entire tour of duty in Vietnam who was NOT a sniper or in Special Forces. It was tough in those bars.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 6:30:55 PM EDT
[#39]
Here's what you do:
When they start yapping about how they were in special forces, or recon, or some other badass shit, you change the subject to: "Wow, that's pretty cool, but you know? You gotta hand it to the cooks and other support personnel that make it possible for the warriors to do their jobs. They don't get any glory and no recognition, but they do their jobs day in and day out to make sure the mission is accomplished, because without them, we wouldn't have the finest military ever devised." Lay it on thick. Don't be sarcastic, because all of the above is absolutely true. If he gets pissed and starts bagging on cooks, tell him you were a cook on Air Force One, or some other silly shit. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 6:34:17 PM EDT
[#40]
edit for myspillyngs |
||
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 6:34:21 PM EDT
[#41]
This guy wasn't by chance a truck driver was he? I had a guy tell me EXACTLY all f that, in addition he owned Spago's (sp? the star hang out on Hollyweird), his kids were all high powered lawyers, his super model girlfriend was currently mad at him because he had just bought a half dozen Lambo Diablos, and he was legally classifiedas a "national Security Asset", but he just drove a truck for fun. |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 6:36:06 PM EDT
[#42]
that is a pretty good quote even better in the context of a letter home |
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 6:39:14 PM EDT
[#43]
I finally met one of these dumbasses in October at a shoot at hite hollow, just after I finished shooting a friends M16(AR with RDIAS) he comes over to me and my dad, wearing a Vietnam hat, and tells us that all this machinegun fire gives him the shakes. If that was true, wtf is he doing at a shooting range?
So he wants to shoot my WASR and makes up some bs about the AKs in vietnam. Then he finally tells us that he was a sniper, and made 2500 yard kills with a 25'06. I finally couldn't take it and just kept shooting. The dumbass also reeked of alcohol, and had no ear protection, My friend also had a M82A1 Barret, which he was shooting right beside me.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 6:43:34 PM EDT
[#44]
We did some work for a state trooper here who, within two or three minutes of the start of our conversation, claimed he was:
1. "Special Forces" 2. A Marine 3. SCUD hunter in GWI 
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 6:44:55 PM EDT
[#45]
I don't know about your case, but there is something that often causes confusion with veterans awards. If a Soldier was in multiple campaigns in the same theater, they will recieve the campaign medal for each campaign. Rather than wear multiples of the same ribbon, each additional award is represented by a tiny bronze colored star placed on the ribbon. So the awards paragraph of a vet's discharge might read European Theater of Operations Campaign Medal w/3 bronze stars. That would indicate that the soldier had been in 4 campaigns, not the soldier was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. I've seen this mistake made often. |
|||
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 6:53:10 PM EDT
[#46]
I know a guy who was in the Army and he claims -- get this -- he claims he was a cook! OMG!
His favorite thing to cook was cinammon rolls. Roll out the dough, open the can of raisins and sprinkle them, wait a minute for some of them to run away . . . |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 7:10:44 PM EDT
[#47]
I wish I could get my Grandfather who is still living to tell me more. Same for my dad. I have to grab bits of info from their conversations and research waht I hear in order to get the bigger picture.
My grandfather (the one still living) only tells us the funny stories about his buddies and things like that. If pressed about the good stuff he will admit it but its almost like a secondary event. He flew C47s(I think) in WWII. Said they could not break formation and just had to hope they didnt get smoked from the AA. I found out he was flying our guys into Sicily. Took a while to learn about why he ementioned that. It started with a story about some guys in his unit went somewhere looking to kick some asses and got in trouble for being AWOL and almost got busted for desertion. Turns out they wanted some payback for a bad friendly fire incident. Navy shot down a few of their birds. I researched the incident and was like damn, I would be pissed too. He wasnt one of the guys who got in trouble, he just told me about it. He also told me they had to lock British paratroopers on their planes because the brits were told they were going home but in reality they were going somewhere really bad instead. Many tried to go awol so they were ordered to lock them in their planes.My dad usually told me about his really cool bunker he and a buddy made or other almost fun things they did. I asked him why his leg was all messed up and had lots of skin graft scars. All he said was that someone "tripped a howitzer" I had to look that one up. I learned from my mom that event killed everyone he knew well or screwed them up all so badly they never saw each other again. I do know he went back after re-uping in the hospital stateside. He ended up in Con-Tien and he does not really talk about it much. He told me that it looked like the moon and everyone lived in craters. From what I researched it must have sucked big time. |
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 7:20:18 PM EDT
[#48]
Hey has anyone read a paperback that was out in the seventies titled''The Five Fingers''? It was about a group of special forces operators from different nato countries in 1970 who made it up into laos on a mission to snipe a NVA general across the border in southern china. As I remember it was a good little thriller!!! 
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 7:25:18 PM EDT
[#49]
About 12 years ago me and a friend were in out BDUs (on a drill weekend) at an electronic store waiting for it to open while we were at lunch. There were two dirt balls waiting too and started that kind of stuff and then asked if we were in desert storm. I made up a story about my friend running a Speacial Force team of Oli-mows. Basically, the Oli-mow tean was launched out at sea and they swam into enemy waters, through the sewer pipes, and reached up through the toliet and ripped out the ememies's guts from their assholes.
|
|
|
|
Posted: 12/28/2005 7:36:05 PM EDT
[#50]
I worked with a former SEAL. He was literally the smartest guy I've ever met, and had worked for NSA and Nokia before working with our company. If you ask him about his service, he will reply, "I was in the Navy", and if you press for more information, he will say, "yeah, I was a medic."
About a week before 9/11, he was recalled to duty unexpectedly, due to a sudden increase in cell phone traffic that was being picked up by a program he wrote while at NSA, and he was called in to make sure his program was working properly. He ended up being away from work for almost 3 months. As others have stated, "real" SF guys are almost always going to UNDERPLAY their role. This guy was FAR more likely to talk about his kids or phone systems than even bring up the fact that he had ever served in the military. SF people are taught to take security VERY seriously, and are naturally distrustful of giving out too much information about themselves. Anyone who openly brags about their "special" service is going to be a fake 99.9% of the time. -Troy |
|
|
Win a FREE Membership!
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.
