Veteran Calls out fake Ranger

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**CptJake**

d-usa wrote:
My work deals 100% with veterans, so having guys lie to try to get preferential treatment over every other vet there just seems like an extra slap in the face to their fellow veterans. So I didn't know how actual vets felt about it.

It would annoy me. Integrity is supposed to mean something. Embellishing stories is one thing, out right lying about something like having been SF or ranger qualified is wrong, especially if the purpose is to screw your fellow vet.

**Rusty Trombone**

Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Rusty Trombone wrote:

Edit: Someone mentioned something about soldiers letting themselves go when not actively working? I know that happens...(I weighed between 175lb and 240lb throughout my enlistment)...but nothing short a glandular condition would explain the dough boy in that video. My weight gain was from muscle, not meatball sundaes. I think the most I ever gained from a two weeks' leave was 5ish pounds.

You're making the mistake of assuming that turd was in in the first place (I'm sorry, but he's to soft in my eyes to have EVER served)

No, I'm not...I was saying even assuming the impossible(that fatty here was 'on a break'), he couldn't balloon that fast. (Although, possibly worded poorly.)I never doubted he's a fraud.

Rangers, in my experience, tend to be short, sinewy/scrawny, and arrogant. It's not a perfect litmus test, but chubby here fails on all counts. That his seamstress(mommy...) sewed his patches all willy nilly is just the nail in the coffin. (Not for me, though....I'm from the woodland BDU era. I couldn't say what patches go where anymore personally!)

Automatically Appended Next Post:

CptJake wrote:
d-usa wrote:
My work deals 100% with veterans, so having guys lie to try to get preferential treatment over every other vet there just seems like an extra slap in the face to their fellow veterans. So I didn't know how actual vets felt about it.

It would annoy me. Integrity is supposed to mean something. Embellishing stories is one thing, out right lying about something like having been SF or ranger qualified is wrong, especially if the purpose is to screw your fellow vet.

Agreed.

I tend to downplay stuff, myself. My brother as well. Heck, I'm unashamed to say I volunteered for RIP(Ranger Indoctrination Program) but backed out when I saw them doing PT. Fireman carrying someone full sprint up a steep hill? Screw that!

**Ensis Ferrae**

Rusty Trombone wrote:

I tend to downplay stuff, myself. My brother as well. Heck, I'm unashamed to say I volunteered for RIP(Ranger Indoctrination Program) but backed out when I saw them doing PT. Fireman carrying someone full sprint up a steep hill? Screw that!

C'mon admit what it really was.... You didn't want to wear "Ranger panties"

As for drama at the VA, I'm basically with CptJake on this one. I was pointing out the tendency for many of our stories to become "fish stories", which is OK. Well, really, it's OK up until the point you are trying to use that for preferrential treatment, or to screw over a fellow vet. It is, to me, along the same lines as that Lt. Col's wife saying that she's a LTC at the commissary in an attempt to move ahead of people in line (or, at Ft. Campbell, when Commissary employees check for rank on spouse ID cards to move them up in line... Yeah, I went on a mini tirade at the manager for that crap)

**CptJake**

My wife is a COL (O6). I should definitely get to cut to the front of the line at the commissary!

Of course in reality, this weekend I let some guy with a 101st Vietnam ball cap go in front of me.

**d-usa**

About half of our fake "special forces" guys are trying to get some special treatment, the other half are drunk guys that the local PD drops off and who try to get into a fight with us and our VAPD guys.

Every now and then our drunk guys running their mouth results in fun stories though (I might mess up ranks and titles here since I was never military, so bear with me):

Like I said, our local PD will often drop off drunk veterans at our hospital. It's less paperwork for the officer than taking them in, and if the vet doesn't have a record they try to cut them a break and bringing them to us to sober up doesn't leave a mark on their record. Most of the guys that show up don't cause a scene and just go to sleep, happy for the break they got. Every now and then somebody tries to cause problems and then our police has to step in. Pretty much all our cops are veterans themselves and some of them still in the guard.

Local PD brings in a drunk guy who decides to push the limits and our cops get called to help us out. He acted stupid for a couple more minutes but then our officers are able to talk him down and he behaves. Turns out he is in the national guard and is getting ready to deploy in a couple of weeks so that's why he was blowing off steam. Our cops make small talk and get on the topic of his MOS and what unit he is with. Guy just continues to make small talk and then says something to the effect of "we are getting a new CO" or "we are getting a new CPT" and then just starts talking gak about him. Not sure exactly what he said since I didn't get the details until the cops took a break and came to the nurse's station to share the story with me.

Officer A is just trying to keep his gak together since the guy can see him and tells me that the guy is just running his mouth talking all kind of gak about what a giant douche his new CPT is supposed to be. Officer B is just standing next to him stone faced as Officer A explains to me that Officer B is in fact this guys new CPT who will deploy with his unit.

It was just pure gold to watch Officer A talk to the guy for the next couple of hours asking him all kinds of questions and trying to get him to talk more gak about Captain Officer B.

I would have loved to see drunk guys face when everything came together the day he actually met his new CPT.

**ejazzyjeff**

IAmTheWalrus wrote:
Jimsolo wrote:
Dressing as an active service member is pretty pathetic. Going to all the trouble of filming and uploading a video of you "getting" someone for doing something mildly sleazy but ultimately harmless is also pretty pathetic.

If I recall correctly he was trying to derive financial benefit from wearing the uniform in the form of discounts, which while not entirely harmless, is pretty innocuous.

However, he didn't earn the privilege to wear the uniform and doesn't have to bear any of the responsibilities that go with wearing it. And some folks that have had to go to bad places and do bad things don't particularly appreciate Jody McFattycakes there parading around in the same uniform because he wants everybody to thank him and give him 10% off.

IAmTheWalrus - Good reply. The reason why these incidents are filmed is because it gets the word out that this man is an imposter and will be posted on the Stolen Valor website. This stops these imposters from wearing the uniforms. http://guardianofvalor.com/hall-of-shame/

**MWHistorian**

I'm all for public shaming of frauds like this.
I never believed in it, but when men and women come under fire together, they really do form a tighter bond that is difficult to explain. I feel a bond with soldiers of the past as well, such as my grandfather. We never understood each other until I returned home from Iraq. He was in the heart of Operation Overlord in WWII and we shared stories like equals for the first time.

People like this turd in the video are a disgrace and deserve worse than public embarrassment.

**Jihadin**

120 ways of stupid if I ever saw one...

**Piston Honda**

This video was brought up on a radio show this morning. The "ranger" in question plead guilty in 2003 for impersonating a cop.

Apparently he is too stupid to learn.

See him in public laugh at him.

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

I think the most damning thing about the fake ranger, besides the lousy inform standard and physical conditioning, is that he feels the need to stay and be interrogated and to defend himself.

Surely a genuine veteran would have the self confidence to just blow them off and say "Feth you, I've served in Afghanistan and seen combat, I don't need to prove myself to you. Now get out of my way".

**Smacks**

Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
Surely a genuine veteran would have the self confidence to just blow them off and say "Feth you, I've served in Afghanistan and seen combat, I don't need to prove myself to you. Now get out of my way".

Americans always seem super polite though in these videos, I find it hard to tell. Even the guy doing the calling out opens with "excuse me sir".

So far as a "calling out" goes, it was bit meh. "Where's your tan t-shirt underneath?" *dude pulls out a tan t-shirt*. According to the youtube comments this guy has been checked out and is a faker, but knowing little about the US military I'm not really sure what's going on. I just see two guys disagreeing about badges.

The dude does seem quite meek though, I can't imagine him ordering people around. My father was a corporal in the RAF, and I got the impression that he'd had some kind of special training in shouting at people and scaring the crap out of them.

**LumenPraebeo**

Smacks wrote:
Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
Surely a genuine veteran would have the self confidence to just blow them off and say "Feth you, I've served in Afghanistan and seen combat, I don't need to prove myself to you. Now get out of my way".

Americans always seem super polite though in these videos, I find it hard to tell. Even the guy doing the calling out opens with "excuse me sir".

So far as a "calling out" goes, it was bit meh. "Where's your tan t-shirt underneath?" *dude pulls out a tan t-shirt*. According to the youtube comments this guy has been checked out and is a faker, but knowing little about the US military I'm not really sure what's going on. I just see two guys disagreeing about badges.

The dude does seem quite meek though, I can't imagine him ordering people around. My father was a corporal in the RAF, and I got the impression that he'd had some kind of special training in shouting at people and scaring the crap out of them.

Its called being civilized.

**Jihadin**

He was getting military discounts on Black Friday

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

Jihadin wrote:
He was getting military discounts on Black Friday

Ain't that fraud?

Greedy

**Jihadin**

Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
Jihadin wrote:
He was getting military discounts on Black Friday

Ain't that fraud?

Federal Charges are being look into I heard due to chubby used the uniform to his advantage for material gain

**Da Boss**

I think it's pretty weird that the military get discounts anyway, but seems like a very american thing!

I reckon someone like that is pretty sad, really. It's like playing pretend taken too far.

**motyak**

It happens here in aus too, the discounts. And places don't often advertise it, but you can always ask, and often they'll give you something.

**Da Boss**

That seems pretty cheeky to me!

**CptJake**

My local Dairy Queen gives a 25% military discount. Of course if I were to regularly take advantage of that I would look like the fat Not-A-Ranger from the video.

Wait a minute, I already look like that after the Thanksgiving food fest!

**filbert**

Da Boss wrote:
I think it's pretty weird that the military get discounts anyway, but seems like a very american thing!

I reckon someone like that is pretty sad, really. It's like playing pretend taken too far.

UK service personnel get all sorts of discounts on presentation of a military ID card. You get discounts (or at least, used to) at Burger King, Millets and the Sea Life Centre (well, the one in Portsmouth gave me a discount anyway) to name a few.

**Jihadin**

A Combat Infantryman badge with three gold star's.........so stupid

Edit

DENVER, CO — The Phony Veterans of Foreign Wars, the nation’s leading military fakers’ organization — representing fake members from all service branches — has gone on the offensive in the fight against military bloggers.

PVFW fired back with a public relations offensive, speaking with reporters and establishing a password-protected blog on their website devoted to peer-reviewed development of members’ stories of their superhuman valor and heroism.

“Because of these milbloggers’ relentless assault on our First Amendment-protected right to lie about brief, unglamorous or nonexistent military service,” PVFW chairman Michael Spurwick told reporters, “several of our members have suffered irreparable damage to their reputations, and a few have even had their businesses and careers ruined, after being exposed as frauds. Something had to be done.”

Spurwick, a former Army sergeant, who was promoted to General before retiring as a Captain, has a long and impressive career of made-up military service.

“We lost a lot of good men out there,” Spurwick said. “I don’t really like to talk about it.”

Born in 1965, he’s a veteran of every U.S. military action since his birth, from the Vietnam War to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Boasting unearned Special Forces and Ranger tabs, Spurwick served with both Delta Force and the Rangers during Operation Gothic Serpent in Mogadishu, Somalia. He’s participated in every combat parachute jump since 1967, when, at just fifteen months of age, he parachuted into North Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne during Operation Junction City — as well as a top-secret high altitude, high opening jump from the International Space Station during OEF VI and a LANO (low-altitude, no-opening) jump from a B-1 bomber during OIF V.

[Editor’s note: According to Spurwick’s DD214, obtained by this News Source through a FOIA request, he was discharged from the Army in 1986 during basic training at Fort Sill, Okla., as an E-2.]

Such astonishing derring-do is commonplace among the PVFW’s members, with most having war records that would put Audie Murphy or Chesty Puller to shame.

One such member is Nick Androsky, a former Air Force C-130 loadmaster who was court-martialed for drug use, demoted from E-3 to E-1, and given a bad-conduct discharge.

He gained notoriety in PVFW circles when he arrived at an Army infantry basic-training graduation ceremony wearing an Air Force dress uniform, sporting master sergeant’s stripes, a ribbon rack with over 40 medals, master pilot’s wings, an Army Combat Infantryman Badge with two stars, and a number of other badges.

Completing the look was a green beret and a pair of desert-tan boots.

Androsky was outed by This Ain’t Hell — with the military blog dubbing him “Master Sergeant Soup Sandwich.”

“We live for this,” said TAH editor and actual retired Army combat infantryman Jonn Lilyea. “We’re sending a message that if you steal valor, we’re gonna catch you and publicly shame you like the douche-nozzle that you are.”

Lilyea and other milbloggers, in Spurwick’s opinion, are little more than “high-tech bullies.”

“They take sadistic pleasure in trying to ruin our lives with their endless FOIA witch-hunts and bloody-shirt DD214-waving,” Spurwick said, “just because we don’t fit their narrow, exclusionary definitions of military service.”

The PVFW blog’s primary purpose is to help its members with no actual military background, who are most vulnerable to damaging attacks from the milbloggers:

“Without any firsthand experience using authentic-sounding military lingo or properly wearing a uniform, they don’t know how to craft a persona that strikes that delicate balance of being ultra-awesome and yet still believable, without setting off the B.S.-meters of real veterans,” says Spurwick. “Here, they can get pointers and counter-counter-fakery tips from the guys who have plenty of time in fake-service. One trick I recommend if you’re about to get busted is to claim your records were classified ‘above top secret’ or lost in a fire. If all else fails, threaten to sue. That usually works.”

Military fakery is a high-stakes game, says Spurwick: “A reputation that takes years to fabricate can be destroyed in a minute by one milblog post.”

**Da Boss**

I do find that very strange, but I guess it feeds into our general obsession with and glorification of military activities.

**the shrouded lord**

as I posted when I saw this on FB, this guy is scum.

**Hordini**

Da Boss wrote:
I think it's pretty weird that the military get discounts anyway, but seems like a very american thing!

I think it seems like a pretty German thing that they don't!

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Da Boss wrote:
I do find that very strange, but I guess it feeds into our general obsession with and glorification of military activities.

And I don't think doing things to support our servicemen and women has anything to do with an obsession or glorification of military activities.

**the shrouded lord**

Hordini wrote:
Da Boss wrote:
I think it's pretty weird that the military get discounts anyway, but seems like a very american thing!

I think it seems like a pretty German thing that they don't!

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Da Boss wrote:
I do find that very strange, but I guess it feeds into our general obsession with and glorification of military activities.

And I don't think doing things to support our servicemen and women has anything to do with an obsession or glorification of military activities.

agreed.

**AduroT**

Krellnus wrote:
But then they would have a work ethic and have a generally healthier lifestyle at the end of it, you are supposed to punish people for breaking the law, not rewarding them .

Punishment on its own is pointless. The goal should be rehabilitation.

**Shadow Captain Edithae**

The reverse is also true I think.

Rehabilitation without punishment provides no incentive for a person to change and cooperate with said Rehabilitation. Which is something that we see in the UK quite a lot.

**CptJake**

I've found some folks are just crap bags, and will always be crap bags. You can expend resources forever in an effort to rehabilitate them, and all you are really doing is trying to make yourself feel 'good' because you are not gonna change them.

Punishment may not be everything or even the most important thing, but it is important and I think calling it pointless on its own is just silly. Context and situation may make punishment on its own the best solution. Say fines as a punishment for illegal parking. Would you rather a fine coupled with a class or counseling to rehabilitate the offender? That would generally be a huge waste of resources, because the punishment alone (and sometimes just the threat there of) influences the desired behavior.

I've known folks more scared of 'getting caught' than scared of 'doing the wrong thing' and who when caught are sorry there were caught, but not really sorry for the action.

**Ouze**

Da Boss wrote:
I think it's pretty weird that the military get discounts anyway, but seems like a very american thing!

Well, they sort of need it. Members of the military get pretty poor pay when starting out - like, qualified for food stamps/WIC level.

**Ensis Ferrae**

Ouze wrote:

Well, they sort of need it. Members of the military get pretty poor pay when starting out - like, qualified for food stamps/WIC level.

Depending on duty stations, that CAN continue all the way through E-5 or even E-6.... Though you don't typically hear of or see an E-6 on food stamps or that sort of assistance, as they've become "used to" the military lifestyle and have adjusted their living standards accordingly.