Have you seen military posers in person?

MSgt Cynthia Bishop - to be honest with you If I had stay and done a 20, took the seal team offer made the cut I would have been in my early mid forties at retirement.

No, he was claiming that he was currently a SEAL. Fifty pounds overweight, hair to his shoulders, 45+ years old and a Reservist. I think not.

Lol...that would NOT end well.

Best plan ever

You have a good point Sarge but most civilians who have never been in wouldn't know what regulation to look for. They wouldn't know necessarily that there are specific regulations for how to arrange your ribbons. Based on the picture they obviously wouldn't also know that you don't wear your medals on your class A's. No one is butthurt but it is insulting. The only reason why someone would run around in a uniform is to gain and benefit from it even if it's something as small as a veteran's discount or a free dinner on veterans day. Who knows maybe this clown is an actor trying to play the part of a soldier and hoping he could convince those he came across that he was for real.

A safe bet is if they’re putting something, anything, on it. Cammies are cammies but if there’s names, ranks, etc and they’re parading around pretending to be Mattis himself. That’s stolen valor, I’ve been out for awhile now and don’t give much of a shit to call them out and make a scene unless they mention their “heroics” of war. Then you bet your ass I light them up wherever we are, aside for church. I personally don’t get offended when I’m doing that, I’m offended for the boys that went into that shitstorm and didn’t come back. Both my generations and generations past. And I don’t care if what I’m doing by lighting them up is right, wrong, or makes me seem butthurt. I didn’t lose my cousin in Afghanistan and my good friend to suicide in the stumps for Johnny on the block to try to score pussy by pretending he was there or knows one thing about service to the country. Hell no. Maybe when I get older I’ll see it differently, but as it is I have no pity for the guys that pull that move.

I was a DoD logistics contractor at AGW, IQ in '06. I wore desert cam and boots, but absolutely no tags, patches or anything that would lead anyone to think I was regular military. I had and have too much respect for the men and women I worked with who wore the uniforms of our country or our allies.

With nearly two decades of constant warfare, an entire new generation has grown up with "military chic" styled clothing. Some designer rags come with rank patches and bogus insignia; these are not Mil surplus. Add in the Grunt Styles and Ranger Ups, veteran-owned clothing lines and you will see a ton of people of all ages in military inspired garb, including Mil surplus. During the Vietnam Era, same thing happened. Yeah, I am THAT old. We had posers then, too.

Posers like the clown in the article are people who pretend to be active duty or retired members of the US Military. Some of these people do have mental/intellectual/behavioral issues beyond their control. Getting pissed off at someone who is clearly mentally/intellectually impaired is over the top, IMO. The posers that get my goat are those outright frauds; true stolen valor maggots who profit off the reputations, forged in the fires of war, of other men. A-holes like that deserve to be taken to task by any lawful means.

Most unintelligent answer/comment I've seen regarding stolen valor

PO1 Donald Hammond - Check out the USS Belknap CG 26 and the collision with the JFK. I was on the Claude V Ricketts DDG 5. Good men died that night and we weren't at war or on a SUBMARINE. That's my point!

Still doesn't speak to what I was speaking to. Anybody, anywhere, can die at any time. Look at the military that die in airplane crashes, in vehicle collisions, etc etc.
I never said you had to be on a submarine to die. Go back and read my statement again. Take a class in Reading Comprehension 101 and then try again.

PO1 Donald Hammond - You be a grumpy ol fart at times , yes .

I agree Eric. The problem some of us have is that whole “positive image” thing. Cussing folks out and threatening violence to someone in public don’t quite meet that definition. Like you said, talk to people in that situation with firmness and emphasis, but not in a hostile kind of way. If nothing else, the 30 civilian people who would have otherwise thought “What a dickhead that guy was” won’t be thinking that.