Fake Military Veteran

[Butters]

Hey now! That is impressive! The only two F15s that were never shot down and he got them. BOTH!

That must be one really tough sim.

That's basically what I said. When I pointed out that no F-15's had been shot down in air-to-air combat, he got really excited and started going on about how the Israelis always lie...blah blah blah.

The curious thing is that the guy WAS a pilot. The reason he was at the party was because my friend was a float-plane rating examiner, and the guy was in town to be checked out. I don't think that he was ever a fighter pilot, tho. He didn't seem to know much about MiGs or anything else tactical...

The point about the real veterans often being a low-key is something that i can personally attest to. My grandfather was a highly-decorated WWII veteran serving in Sicily and Italy (Where he was so seriously wounded he was over a year recovering. You could see the scars and fragments of shrapnel under the skin of legs and chest...). As he got older, he would tell me more and more about it, but would usually focus on the amusing stuff. Like how the neighboring Ghurkas would constantly call out, "Hey, Johhny. Come wrestle. Come wrestle.", to the Canadians. My gramps was a big, strong guy who'd worked in the woods all his life and he took the little fellows up on their offer. Once...

At his memorial service, the local Legion put together a display of his military record, which included documents showing that he'd been mentioned in despatches twice, and been awarded the Military Medal for Valour. He'd also taken part in three 11-man missions behind enemy lines. It was on the last one that he was seriously wounded when his unit got lost while being chased at night by the Germans and accidentally crossed the line (a river) three or four miles downstream from their planned crossing point. It was a Greek unit on his own side that blew him and his teamates to pieces...

He'd told me about the last, but never mentioned any of the others. He was Gunner Kendall Longmire, Forward Artillery Observer, RCA.

JL

 

[Pong]

Remember Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines who claims to be a veteran of a guerilla unit 'Maharlika' supposedly recognized by the U.S Government? I got this info from Raymond Bonner's book Waltzing with a Dictator. Marcos said he received the DSC, two Silver Stars and more than 20 other decorations. Obviously he never received any of those awards (Except for several Philippine medals which were given to him in the early '50s and '60s, which is really suspicious) and officers who had served with him said that his claims were "Pure BS". What's even more shocking, is that his father was a propagandist for the Japanese, a job which was recommended by his son Ferdinand.

 

[proton45]

Sending him to Iraq is too good for him...sending him to Iraq would only give him the chance to live out his fantasy. Just because he is a douche bag and a lair doesn't mean he is a coward. Pathological lairs are very cunning and frequently don't "feel' things the same way as you or me...The best thing, would be to rob him of what he craves the most...attention.

Their was a lady that did something very similar after 9/11...her name was "Tania Head". http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/27/nyregion/27survivor.html