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So I sucked it up and watched the whole thing (it's difficult for me to watch people bully other people as it makes me quite angry). It's noteworthy that even the guys wife or girlfriend recognizes he's being a douchebag and a bully. She says "stop it" towards the end. Perhaps she didn't want her son to end up treating people the same way by imitation, or perhaps she'd witnessed him go down this path of anger before and was afraid of what might happen next.

The guy who recorded this video has clearly wrapped up his own sense of identity far too much into his time in the Army. Why else would he become so enraged by someone parading as a soldier? He mentions he lost friends during his service (this is when his anger explodes), and clearly generally he has very bad anger issues to the point where he is using very foul language in front of his child, and watching the video, one wonders if he will at some point break down into physical violence.

Armchair internet diagnosis = untreated PTSD.

 Jihadin wrote:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:

 Bromsy wrote:

Yeah, civvies are worse. I was a fobbit and proud (don't be mad 'cause I got a good ASVAB score ) but the fish stories comparison is apt. Of course, don't completely make stuff up; you're 30, I don't think you went into Grenada.

I had a good ASVAB as well.... It sure helped me out LOADS in 'Nam!!

Back in the day when I was a victorious soldier in Task Force Smith in my capacity as CaptainSgt. I turned back those russian T34's with a Bazooka....

You're so full of crap. I happen to know you were only a Lance Gunny that had barely gotten promoted from gak bird of the Corps.

 jasper76 wrote:
So I sucked it up and watched the whole thing (it's difficult for me to watch people bully other people as it makes me quite angry). It's noteworthy that even the guys wife or girlfriend recognizes he's being a douchebag and a bully. She says "stop it" towards the end. Perhaps she didn't want her son to end up treating people the same way by imitation, or perhaps she'd witnessed him go down this path of anger before and was afraid of what might happen next.

The guy who recorded this video has clearly wrapped up his own sense of identity far too much into his time in the Army. Why else would he become so enraged by someone parading as a soldier? He mentions he lost friends during his service (this is when his anger explodes), and clearly generally he has very bad anger issues to the point where he is using very foul language in front of his child, and watching the video, one wonders if he will at some point break down into physical violence.

Armchair internet diagnosis = untreated PTSD.

Please. Just stop. That wasn't bullying. That wasn't PTSD. That wasn't someone losing control and being on the edge of 'physical violence'... That was anger. It's a normal human emotion. It happens. Don't try to wave it off and defend that gakbag for whatever reason. Who is the 'douche' in this situation is pretty clear.

I don't understand why you are hanging your hat on defending this individual - who in case you missed it was pointed out in this thread as having also been called out for impersonating a police officer - which is actually a crime. Stop inventing narrative from whole cloth to try to portray the guy who had the audacity to get angry for a reasonably legitimate reason as some sort of monster whilst defending a waste of a human being who at best is a liar and at worst is a criminal and fraud.

I'm not defending the subject of the video at all. I either pity him, or think he's scum.

If he's out trying to get somebody to be friendly with him by wearing a soldier (or earlker, as you say, police) outfit, then I pity him, and I hope he gets help.

If he's wearing the uniform to cash in on Black Friday sales, then I think he's scum.

It's hard to tell from the video what's up with him.

In either case, the bully and his motives are more interesting to me. No one would get that angry over this trivia unless they had problems....and his problems are on full display. Who curses that much in front of their wife/girlfriend and son? Who would take the time and energy to interrogate someone like that? What would cause them to do such a thing, embarrassing their wife and child in the process? What would drive them to post a shaming video on YoUTube (more time and energy , after the fact)? Anger? Desire for fame? Cruelty?....my conclusion is PTSD, likely combined with egomaniacal impulses.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I dont know...don't know how old you are, but maybe it's a generational thing.

I grew up before YouTube and smart phone video recorders. To me, the behavior of this dude is quite odd.

 jasper76 wrote:
I'm not defending the subject of the video at all. I either pity him, or think he's scum.

If he's out trying to get somebody to be friendly with him by wearing a soldier outfit, then I pity him, and I hope he gets help.

If he's wearing the uniform to cash in on Black Friday sales, then I think he's scum.

It's hard to tell from the video what's up with him.

In either case, the bully and his motives are more interesting to me. No one would get that angry over this trivia unless they had problems....and his problems are on full display. Who curses that much in front of their wife/girlfriend and son? Who would take the time and energy to interrogate someone like that? What would cause them to do such a thing, embarrassing their wife and child in the process? What would drive them to post a shaming video on YoUTube (more time and energy , after the fact)? Anger? Desire for fame? Cruelty?....my conclusion is PTSD, likely combined with egomaniacal impulses.

Ah, so someone having different priorities and caring about things at different levels of vehemence than you means they have mental problems? Calling someone out for being a liar and fraudster over the course of four to five minutes makes you a bully?


Seriously dude, stop. Don't armchair diagnose people for psychological problems based off of a tiny snippet of video. It is not a sane or healthy way to interact with the world through the medium of the internet. It's bad form.

Yeah...if you video record your own anger-inspired interrogations of people in shopping malls, then post them on the internet, you have problems.

Just my opinion....and with that, I'm out of this thread. Small potatoes...I really don't care very much.

 Jihadin wrote:

missing one additional tab

Not to be overly nitpicky, because this guy is an obvious fake, but not everyone in the Ranger Regiment has a Ranger tab, so a scroll without a tab isn't necessarily a sign of a faker. That said, a Staff Sergeant in the Regiment without a tab is probably pretty unlikely.

 Bromsy wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:
So I sucked it up and watched the whole thing (it's difficult for me to watch people bully other people as it makes me quite angry). It's noteworthy that even the guys wife or girlfriend recognizes he's being a douchebag and a bully. She says "stop it" towards the end. Perhaps she didn't want her son to end up treating people the same way by imitation, or perhaps she'd witnessed him go down this path of anger before and was afraid of what might happen next.

The guy who recorded this video has clearly wrapped up his own sense of identity far too much into his time in the Army. Why else would he become so enraged by someone parading as a soldier? He mentions he lost friends during his service (this is when his anger explodes), and clearly generally he has very bad anger issues to the point where he is using very foul language in front of his child, and watching the video, one wonders if he will at some point break down into physical violence.

Armchair internet diagnosis = untreated PTSD.

Please. Just stop. That wasn't bullying. That wasn't PTSD. That wasn't someone losing control and being on the edge of 'physical violence'... That was anger. It's a normal human emotion. It happens. Don't try to wave it off and defend that gakbag for whatever reason. Who is the 'douche' in this situation is pretty clear.

I don't understand why you are hanging your hat on defending this individual - who in case you missed it was pointed out in this thread as having also been called out for impersonating a police officer - which is actually a crime. Stop inventing narrative from whole cloth to try to portray the guy who had the audacity to get angry for a reasonably legitimate reason as some sort of monster whilst defending a waste of a human being who at best is a liar and at worst is a criminal and fraud.

thank you.

Why shouldn't I be angry towards someone who dishonors my brothers and sisters? Fakes tick me off.

Is anything they did really less honorable because some jerk in a mall plays dress up?

 Hordini wrote:

 Jihadin wrote:

missing one additional tab

Not to be overly nitpicky, because this guy is an obvious fake, but not everyone in the Ranger Regiment has a Ranger tab, so a scroll without a tab isn't necessarily a sign of a faker. That said, a Staff Sergeant in the Regiment without a tab is probably pretty unlikely.

To lead troops in a Ranger Bat you have to be tabbed.

@Concer: I'm not saying you shouldn't be angry by people impersonating soldiers. I'm saying going to the trouble of filming your own interrogation video, badgering someone in public to the obvious embarrassment of your wife and child, then posting that video on YoUTube to get your 15 minutes sort of begs the question of the guys own mental health.

As I said, maybe this is a generational thing. I grew up before YouTube and websites dedicated to yourself. This strikes me as very odd behavior. If I grew up with this stuff, maybe I wouldn't see a problem.

This guy could have just left his wife and child to go shopping and confronted the person on his own. If he felt a crime was being committed, he could have reported it to an authoritu. But instead, he chose to make it about himself, and went further down that road by posting it to YouTube.

 jasper76 wrote:
@Concer: I'm not saying you shouldn't be angry by people impersonating soldiers. I'm saying going to the trouble of filming your own interrogation video, badgering someone in public to the obvious embarrassment of your wife and child, then posting that video on YoUTube to get your 15 minutes sort of begs the question of the guys own mental health.

As I said, maybe this is a generational thing. I grew up before YouTube and websites dedicated to yourself. This strikes me as very odd behavior. If I grew up with this stuff, maybe I wouldn't see a problem.

This guy could have just left his wife and child to go shopping and confronted the person on his own. If he felt a crime was being committed, he could have reported it to an authoritu. But instead, he chose to make it about himself, and went further down that road by posting it to YouTube.

I be a bit pissed to

Ryan Berk, a Purple Heart recipient, spotted the man - who was dressed in camouflage fatigues and who identified himself as Sean Yetman - at the Oxford Valley Mall and was immediately suspicious of his mismatched uniform.

Along with an American flag patch in the wrong spot, Berk noticed that Yetman was wearing three Combat Infantryman Badges (CIBs) on his shoulder – an extremely rare honor.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2857570/Fake-army-ranger-busted-real-vet-mall-Black-Friday-charged-falsely-posing-soldier-obtain-special-military-discounts.html#ixzz3L8To6yH3
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

I might have even gone the same route he did

I served in Afghanistan and have several friend who were seriously wounded and a couple who were killed in action who wore that same uniform and to see someone try and claim that type of sacrifice really irked me,’ said Berk

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2857570/Fake-army-ranger-busted-real-vet-mall-Black-Friday-charged-falsely-posing-soldier-obtain-special-military-discounts.html#ixzz3L8U7Jf7y
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Berk hit Afghanistan during the Surge in 2010-11

That he was wounded in action only furthers my suspicion that he has PTSD...there is no shame in having PTSD.

I understand his anger. I can even relate to his impulse to confront the person. The only thing that I cant relate to is why he felt the need to record this interchange and post it to YoUTube, and I guess this may be a generational thing, because it doesn't strike a couple younger fellows here as narcissistic.

 jasper76 wrote:
That he was wounded in action only furthers my suspicion that he has PTSD...there is no shame in having PTSD.

I understand his anger. I can even relate to his impulse to confront the person. The only thing that I cant relate to is why he felt the need to record this interchange and post it to YoUTube, and I guess this may be a generational thing, because it doesn't strike a couple younger fellows here as narcissistic.

Well, if its a crime, recording the perp would be valuable evidence for the Police.

But questioning his motives for going public with the video and encouraging mob justice / public shaming is a legitmate complaint I guess. The only way justice will be served is if the perp is prosecuted and convicted, not public shaming.

You film it so that other people know what the guy looks like. It's not narcissism. Jesus.

You also film in case the crap bag faker decides to take a swing at you, so you can show the LEOs what happened.

You post it to YouTube so that others can see who the crap bag is.

Not sure how any of that would be an indicator of PTSD.

As for public shaming, I guess I don't see that as a bad thing. If your actions embarrass you when made public, perhaps you ought to reconsider your actions?

 Bromsy wrote:
You film it so that other people know what the guy looks like. It's not narcissism. Jesus.

To what end? This obviously wasn't meant primarily as a video to hand over to the police...if that were the prime motive, the guy would have just recorded a vid, taken photos, and shown the cops what was wrong with his uniform. But he felt a need to shame the guy in the process.

Regarding Narcissim, look under Traits and Signs in this Wikipedia link, and you'll know what I mean by that.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism

Specifically, the following:

Difficulty with empathy (he can't imagine that the person might actually have bad mental health and is seeking positive feedback from others by way of wearing a military uniform in a country which to some degree idolizes military personnel)
Hypersensitivity to any insults or imagined insults
Pretending to be more important than they really are (a case could be made)
Bragging (subtly but persistently) and exaggerating their achievements
Claiming to be an "expert" at many things

You are missing something, and it is a BIG thing. If you don't confront the guy, and just ignore it, you are basically stating what he is doing is okay and not worth correcting. In the military leaders are taught to correct wrongs, on their troops and on other troops. See a guy in the PX in uniform who has not shaved? You correct him. See a guy walking in the parking lot without his cover on (assuming you are not on a flight line) you correct him. See a troop off post in uniform doing something wrong? You correct him. If you don't, you are accepting a new and lower standard.

 CptJake wrote:

As for public shaming, I guess I don't see that as a bad thing. If your actions embarrass you when made public, perhaps you ought to reconsider your actions?

At this point, I will just recommend that you read or re-read The Scarlet Letter. It is probably more pertinent now than ever in this age of near-universal access to video recorders.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 CptJake wrote:
You are missing something, and it is a BIG thing. If you don't confront the guy, and just ignore it, you are basically stating what he is doing is okay and not worth correcting. In the military leaders are taught to correct wrongs, on their troops and on others. See a guy in the PX in uniform who has not shaved? You correct him. See a guy walking in the parking lot without his cover on (assuming you are not on a flight line) you correct him. See a troop off post in uniform doing something wrong? You correct him. If you don't, you are accepting a new and lower standard.

It has been a while, but I don't recall public shaming of civilians in shopping malls to be part of my military training on keeping a neat uniform.

And why on earth would someone who's not even in the military anymore be on the hunt for uniform problems?

 jasper76 wrote:

 CptJake wrote:

As for public shaming, I guess I don't see that as a bad thing. If your actions embarrass you when made public, perhaps you ought to reconsider your actions?

At this point, I will just recommend that you read or re-read The Scarlet Letter. It is probably more pertinent now than ever in this age of near-universal access to video recorders.

I used to have a Wall Of Shame in both of my company HQs. My 1SG would post UCMJ results, APFT and marksmanship scores, and other relevant stats. So you're barking up the wrong tree if you think I'll feel remorse for my position on this.

 CptJake wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:

 CptJake wrote:

As for public shaming, I guess I don't see that as a bad thing. If your actions embarrass you when made public, perhaps you ought to reconsider your actions?

At this point, I will just recommend that you read or re-read The Scarlet Letter. It is probably more pertinent now than ever in this age of near-universal access to video recorders.

I used to have a Wall Of Shame in both of my company HQs. My 1SG would post UCMJ results, APFT and marksmanship scores, and other relevant stats. So you're barking up the wrong tree if you think I'll feel remorse for my position on this.

OK. I mean I just don't admire Walls of Shame, public shaming, YouTube shaming videos, etc. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head that I'd really be happy to see someone shamed for publicly is exploitation of defenseless people or violation of the public trust, and I don't personally think playing soldier at a shopping mall qualifies. We can just agree to disagree on the value of shaming others.

 jasper76 wrote:
So I sucked it up and watched the whole thing (it's difficult for me to watch people bully other people as it makes me quite angry). It's noteworthy that even the guys wife or girlfriend recognizes he's being a douchebag and a bully. She says "stop it" towards the end. Perhaps she didn't want her son to end up treating people the same way by imitation, or perhaps she'd witnessed him go down this path of anger before and was afraid of what might happen next.

The guy who recorded this video has clearly wrapped up his own sense of identity far too much into his time in the Army. Why else would he become so enraged by someone parading as a soldier? He mentions he lost friends during his service (this is when his anger explodes), and clearly generally he has very bad anger issues to the point where he is using very foul language in front of his child, and watching the video, one wonders if he will at some point break down into physical violence.

Armchair internet diagnosis = untreated PTSD.

Quite frankly, I think the fact he did it infron of his kid is horrible to. You make your kid watch as you embarrass a man in public and relentlessly hammer the guy as he is trying to get away?
I mean, Yeah the guy is doing something duechy, but jesus dont be an donkey-cave infront of your kid and in public like that.

The guy needs to be prosecuted and convicted. Public shaming via youtube is a half assed incomplete mob justice at best.

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:
So I sucked it up and watched the whole thing (it's difficult for me to watch people bully other people as it makes me quite angry). It's noteworthy that even the guys wife or girlfriend recognizes he's being a douchebag and a bully. She says "stop it" towards the end. Perhaps she didn't want her son to end up treating people the same way by imitation, or perhaps she'd witnessed him go down this path of anger before and was afraid of what might happen next.

The guy who recorded this video has clearly wrapped up his own sense of identity far too much into his time in the Army. Why else would he become so enraged by someone parading as a soldier? He mentions he lost friends during his service (this is when his anger explodes), and clearly generally he has very bad anger issues to the point where he is using very foul language in front of his child, and watching the video, one wonders if he will at some point break down into physical violence.

Armchair internet diagnosis = untreated PTSD.

Quite frankly, I think the fact he did it infron of his kid is horrible to. You make your kid watch as you embarrass a man in public and relentlessly hammer the guy as he is trying to get away?
I mean, Yeah the guy is doing something duechy, but jesus dont be an donkey-cave infront of your kid and in public like that.

He even used his child as a tool. To his child "Don't say anything OK. Come here. Come Here."

TO the man "Hey sir, my son would really like to meet you."

Ummm...no he wouldn't. Why are you dragging your son into this? He's got nothing to do with the anger you're feeling and your little video plan.

 jasper76 wrote:
I'm not defending the subject of the video at all. I either pity him, or think he's scum.

If he's out trying to get somebody to be friendly with him by wearing a soldier (or earlker, as you say, police) outfit, then I pity him, and I hope he gets help.

If he's wearing the uniform to cash in on Black Friday sales, then I think he's scum.

It's hard to tell from the video what's up with him.

In either case, the bully and his motives are more interesting to me. No one would get that angry over this trivia unless they had problems....and his problems are on full display. Who curses that much in front of their wife/girlfriend and son? Who would take the time and energy to interrogate someone like that? What would cause them to do such a thing, embarrassing their wife and child in the process? What would drive them to post a shaming video on YoUTube (more time and energy , after the fact)? Anger? Desire for fame? Cruelty?....my conclusion is PTSD, likely combined with egomaniacal impulses.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I dont know...don't know how old you are, but maybe it's a generational thing.

I grew up before YouTube and smart phone video recorders. To me, the behavior of this dude is quite odd.

How old are you? Why would your formative years, sans interwebz, make it unlikely your(my!?!) generation would understand the motivations here? I'm not a confrontational person, but I can totally get behind the public outing of this fraudster. You don't need PTSD to feel righteous anger. And as others said, a public video makes it a point of record. Besides, as this POS was in a mall, methinks the public display, with camera rolling(I remember Super 8 film being the norm...) helped ensure the cretin would C&D his ruse.

I liken this to a citizen's arrest. It rarely happens, looks odd when being enacted, but it has it's uses. No one, barring fraudulent detainment, would blame a citizen for apprehending a criminal caught in the act...even if said citizen appears pretty PO'd at the time.

 jasper76 wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:

 jasper76 wrote:
So I sucked it up and watched the whole thing (it's difficult for me to watch people bully other people as it makes me quite angry). It's noteworthy that even the guys wife or girlfriend recognizes he's being a douchebag and a bully. She says "stop it" towards the end. Perhaps she didn't want her son to end up treating people the same way by imitation, or perhaps she'd witnessed him go down this path of anger before and was afraid of what might happen next.

The guy who recorded this video has clearly wrapped up his own sense of identity far too much into his time in the Army. Why else would he become so enraged by someone parading as a soldier? He mentions he lost friends during his service (this is when his anger explodes), and clearly generally he has very bad anger issues to the point where he is using very foul language in front of his child, and watching the video, one wonders if he will at some point break down into physical violence.

Armchair internet diagnosis = untreated PTSD.

Quite frankly, I think the fact he did it infron of his kid is horrible to. You make your kid watch as you embarrass a man in public and relentlessly hammer the guy as he is trying to get away?
I mean, Yeah the guy is doing something duechy, but jesus dont be an donkey-cave infront of your kid and in public like that.

He even used his child as a tool. To his child "Don't say anything OK. Come here. Come Here."

TO the man "Hey sir, my son would really like to meet you."

Ummm...no he wouldn't. Why are you dragging your son into this? He's got nothing to do with the anger you're feeling and your little video plan.

Quite Frankly, I dont get why it matters so much to film the damn thing. Why put so much effort into shaming the damn guy? To be honest, I felt kinda sorry for him, the wa that guy was laying into him.

@Rusty Trombone: I'm 38. To me, it seems very odd that someone would go to all the trouble of creating a ruse to capture on video an interrogstion of a guy impersonating an Army Ranger and posting it on YouTube.

I honestly wouldn't care if I saw this dude in a mall. Military uniforms impress me about as much as coal miner outfits. But if I did have a problem, I'd either (a) confront the guy without my wife and child present, (b) just tell someone with actual auhauthority to do something about it.

The impulse to video record it and post it on YouTube would be the last thing to cross my mind, because I didn't grow up with YouTube, I don't think vigilante public shaming campaigns are noble, and I don't feel a need to make and publish videos about my private life and post them to the internet...that strikes me as odd.

 jasper76 wrote:


The impulse to video record it and post it on YouTube would be the last thing to cross my mind, because I didn't grow up with YouTube, I don't think vigilante public shaming campaigns are noble, and I don't feel a need to make and publish videos about my private life and post them to the internet...that strikes me as odd.

It's not so much that there's an impulse to put it on YouTube (which gets you wider viewing), but almost ALL of these situations that are filmed, are done so as evidence and sent to the various "Stolen Valor" websites that have been set up. IIRC, some of them actually act as lobby groups to affect local policy to make the sort of people who fake being military/fire/police, etc really think about doing it, due to the potential punishment.

There is nothing wrong with righteous anger, and I don't think that anybody is saying that the fake is right for walking around as a fake.

But there are different ways to respond to the guy:

1) be silent and just be angry in private
2) call him out in private and let him know that it is easy to tell that he is a fake and that you are disappointed/angry.
3) make a scene and call him out.
4) make such a scene that you embarrass your own family
5) put the whole thing on YouTube

There is not even anything inherently wrong with posting stolen valor guys on youtube IMO. You can have cordial confrontations that you can record and post.

But then there are times when it turns into a giant attention seeking dick-measuring contest with both sides going "I'm special because I wear the uniform" and both guys wanting the public to adore them for their actions.

Neither side wins there and the military gets dragged down in the court of public opinion by both the "fat ranger" and the "psycho veteran".

Edit: I understand why the vets that call them out do it, I just think that you can go too far and turn a good intention into a bad thing.