Fake military guys & the Stolen Valor Act of 2005

"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:42:44 +0100, "William Black"
wrote:


"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
. ..

Chuck and Mary Shantag, mentioned in the original post, are the
premier sleuths in digging up the facts on these folks. The poseurs
and wannabes are despicable and should be prosecuted to the maximum
extent of the law. Chuck and Mary do a great job of that. They come to
the annual River Rats reunions and are well supported by all of us.

You miss my point.

1. Why do the fakers do it?

For the same reason people steal. They wish to have something of value
which they did not earn.

While they may have devalued military service in general and heroism
in particular they believe as well that they accrue some benefit by
claiming exceptional combat valor, courage and credentials.

Well then you have do some sort of 'risk/benefit' analysis then.

The risks seem high if people are spending their lives chasing them down.

There seem to be no material benefits.

Why bother?

Don't misunderstand, everyone's met the guy who claims to have served with
the SAS who turns out to have been a cook on a base where an SAS man once
turned up to give a talk on '"The Military Architecture of Hereford";
that's almost expected.

But who on earth claims significant decorations in the hope that no-one will
notice?

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

On Sat, 23 Aug 2008 14:59:17 +0100, "William Black"
wrote:


"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
.. .

For the same reason people steal. They wish to have something of value
which they did not earn.

While they may have devalued military service in general and heroism
in particular they believe as well that they accrue some benefit by
claiming exceptional combat valor, courage and credentials.

Well then you have do some sort of 'risk/benefit' analysis then.

The risks seem high if people are spending their lives chasing them down.

There seem to be no material benefits.

Why bother?

Don't misunderstand, everyone's met the guy who claims to have served with
the SAS who turns out to have been a cook on a base where an SAS man once
turned up to give a talk on '"The Military Architecture of Hereford";
that's almost expected.

But who on earth claims significant decorations in the hope that no-one will
notice?

I direct you once again to this comprehensive site which will show you
"who on earth..."

http://www.pownetwork.org/phonies/phonies1082.htm

There are so many that they must be organized on alphabetical pages
and even then it takes considerable scrolling to get to the bottom.

Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
www.thundertales.blogspot.com
www.thunderchief.org

On Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:31:53 GMT, Ed Rasimus
wrote:

Personally I still lean toward cutting off their buttons, ripping
their epaulets, breaking their saber over my knee and tossing them out
the gate...but that's just me.

I think if you try to break a saber over your knee you will hurt
yourself. Those things would have to be pretty sturdy just to work as
designed.

Casady

Richard Casady wrote:

On Sat, 23 Aug 2008 13:31:53 GMT, Ed Rasimus
wrote:

Personally I still lean toward cutting off their buttons, ripping
their epaulets, breaking their saber over my knee and tossing them out
the gate...but that's just me.

I think if you try to break a saber over your knee you will hurt
yourself. Those things would have to be pretty sturdy just to work as
designed.



You hacksaw it partly through beforehand.

Cheers
CJ Adams

On Aug 23, 9:31 am, Ed Rasimus wrote:
On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 21:42:44 +0100, "William Black"

...

1. Why do the fakers do it?

For the same reason people steal. They wish to have something of value
which they did not earn.

While they may have devalued military service in general and heroism
in particular they believe as well that they accrue some benefit by
claiming exceptional combat valor, courage and credentials.


As hard as it may be to do, I think they devalue only themselves.

They cannot devalue that to which they have no claims.

--

FF

In article ,
says...

Personally I still lean toward cutting off their buttons, ripping
their epaulets, breaking their saber over my knee and tossing them out
the gate...but that's just me.

The only proper punishment...

--
Meddle ye not in the Affairs of Dragons, for Thou art Crunchy and taste
Goode with Ketchup.

In article ,
says...

"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...

Chuck and Mary Shantag, mentioned in the original post, are the
premier sleuths in digging up the facts on these folks. The poseurs
and wannabes are despicable and should be prosecuted to the maximum
extent of the law. Chuck and Mary do a great job of that. They come to
the annual River Rats reunions and are well supported by all of us.

You miss my point.

1. Why do the fakers do it?

They are mentally ill or they are crooks. Or both.


2. Why do people like the Shantags spend their lives looking for them?


Why don't you ask him ?
What is soo odd about standing up for something or someone who no longer
can do so for themselves ?

The fakes dishonor those who died and those who came back injured.


While there may be some false glamour is the pretence it's surely only a
matter of time before they're exposed, and as for chasing them, don't
these people have a life? If you want to spend your time doing good works I
can think of several that are more rewarding.

What you consider rewarding may very well be considered worthless by
others.
Why did Jane Goodall spend her life in the jungles of Africa ?
Why do school teachers spend their lives in a classroom when in many
districts the administration does it's best to thwart their efforts to
teach ?




--
Meddle ye not in the Affairs of Dragons, for Thou art Crunchy and taste
Goode with Ketchup.

Mr. Henry, whose medals and wounds were very real, did not care for such
folks.
http://www.coastcomp.com/teabags/serum.html

(I only flog my stories once in a while, so I hope for forgiveness.)

Bob McKellar

On Aug 22, 1:31�pm, Ed Rasimus wrote:
One of the most egregious I saw was in Colorado where a Veteran's day
celebration had Sen. Ben Campbell on stage with a guy in USAF
Colonel's uniform wearing an AF Cross, several Silver Stars and a
number of DFC's. He professed to have been a POW and escapee from
Hanoi as well as a fighter pilot hero.

He was blissfully unaware that sharing the stage was retired Navy
Captain Mike McGrath, former POW and then president of the Nam-POWs
who had never seen the guy before and quickly outed him.

That's why I think it's pathological. If a con artist wanted to pass,
he'd make a vague allusion to service and then respond to questions
with "I don't want to/can't talk about it", as do many real vets, and
let people think what they want.
There's a very shrewd French movie, based on some real life cases, "A
Self-Made Hero",

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118020/

about a man who allows people to think he was in the Resistance,
without making any particular claims. In most cases they are eager to
believe it. He keeps up the sham until the climax, when he finds
himself in a position where he has to live up to his act.

Andrew Chaplin ha scritto:

Most of it is pathetic overreaching, like the Major in "Separate
Tables", with a few outright mental cases. But someone in a prominant
local or greater position--teachers, officials, politicians--seems
pathological. It's so easy to check, you'd have to be nuts to try and
fake it, particularly with any kind of front line unit or valor
decoration.
OTOH, I'm always interested in seeing how Vulcans and neocons with
Viet Nam draft birthdates handled that character check.

Vulcans in this context means..... ?

Last time I checked Leonard Nimoy was already outside drafting age, in 1966.

And also, RAF Vulcans neither was in US inventory or used in 'Nam.

Best regards from Italy,
Dott. Piergiorgio.