Fake military guys & the Stolen Valor Act of 2005

On 2008-08-22 07:14:06 -0700, "Vaughn Simon"
said:

In the age if the Internet it is very easy for one to make the claim, and
even easier for the world to discover that the claim is false.

Things are heading that way, yes, but it's still the case that truly
canonical registers are only available online for the very highest
military awards. The convenient analogy is with academic records,
which are so often faked as well. It might take a little legwork to
prove if someone really holds a Navy Cross or a PhD, but it's not that
hard. Trying to authenticate a Bronze Star or masters degree though,
you'll have to dig a bit, and a BA/BS or whatever one would call an
analogous military merit award...forget it.

(Perversely, the listing for my bachelors thesis can be found online
but my masters thesis is nowhere to be found.)

What advantage accrues to someone in the USA if they pretend to have had a
distinguished military career?

That really depends on one's individual situation, but usually there is very
little actual advantage connected to it. Perhaps you would be a big
man at your
local VFW club, but that doesn't put food on the table.

Actually, if you look at just the records of politicians who have
gotten nailed for fake medals or claiming advanced degrees they never
earned, it's pretty clear that they did benefit from the con.

Actually, if you look at just the records of politicians who have
gotten nailed for fake medals or claiming advanced degrees they never
earned, it's pretty clear that they did benefit from the con. *

Actually, if you look at just the records of politicians who have
gotten nailed for fake medals or claiming advanced degrees they never
earned, it's pretty clear that they did benefit from the con. *

up here degrees from St Regis were popular. Pay your money, get your
degree. They caught some cops from Chicago PD using them to get
promoted. Some had retired and they're going to get away with it. Ones
on duty are pulling degrees from their files, not sure if anything
else, i.e. demotion to rank not requiring a degree. FBI is getting
involved as there were some Federal employees doing it.

Degrees are pretty easy to check. Most universities will verify if a
person was a student or if they got a degree. Transcripts are
confidential.

One problem I've seen is colleges are way different in type of
students they output. MIT or Cal Tech engineers are not the same as
oh, say U Montana if they give a degree. And the other problem is
departments change over time, not as obvious at the bachelor's level,
but if you go for a PhD you can get screwed if people retire, leave
and the new bozo who's chair brings in losers.