I recently found out about the retired Navy SEAL Don Shipley (OK maybe I've been living under a rock). Anyway, after watching many of his Youtube videos exposing fake Navy SEALS I am absolutely shocked at just how many fakes there really are out there!! According to Don, he states for every real SEAL, there are 1,000 fakes!

Anyone who has not watched these videos SHOULD! I was aware of looser's and wanna-bees posing and claiming they were ex-military however I just never knew the full extent of it. The reason I got into this is because one of my good friends just went down to VA for his Son's graduation from US Army Helicopter Repair School and he enlightened me on the subject of military posers.

I always knew how tough it was to become a SEAL and what a coveted job it is, I was just not aware of all the details, but now know after watching many videos and doing much research on them.

These Imposters, Posers, Liars, Scum of the Earth are a despicable group and should be punished, shamed and stopped at fast and severely as possible. Stolen Valor is no joke! I am not a Veteran, but have always supported them, donated to them and always show my respect and thankfulness.

Anyone who does not realize the extent of this should do a little digging - I sure learned fast just how bad the problem really is!

Yea I know, encountered one myself. If he was ever a SEAL, I'm a ballerina.

Used to be, posers claimed to be Vietnam veterans. Always in some kind of Special Ops though. Never a regular troop. Sometimes I think I must have been one of the only guys in Vietnam, who was NOT some kind of super secret Ninja warrior

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NRA Life, COTEP 640

When I was running a couple “A”and “C” schools up in Great Lakes, we had a student who got caught out in town wearing a SEAL trident. As part of his punishment, he had to do extra duty every weekend for his remaining time at the school with some Marines (we didn’t have any SEALs on staff). Those Marines took a lot of pleasure in making sure he regretted what he did.

Pretending to have been in the service is pretty pathetic.

Know what's almost just as pathetic? Accosting a random person in a Walmart for wearing a M65 field jacket. I have a OD Green M65 field jacket I bought in a thrift store about 5 or 6 years ago. I pulled all the patches off it and I wear it in the winter for hunting, hiking, etc. It has a zip-in hood and removable liner.

One day, while standing at the ammo case in my local Walmart, some old man just walks right up to me and snidely asks "Did you EARN that jacket?"

I informed him that no one "earns" a field jacket. You are "issued" a field jacket and that he needed to get out of my face with that nonsense immediately. I have never served - nor have I pretended to have served - and his accusatory tone infuriated me. It's making me angry all over again just thinking about it.

IMO, posers are petty people living petty lives.

One way or another you pay for your jacket and your haircut and just about everything else. You earn your pay.

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Dum vivo cano

LOL seems I've never met a parent who's kid wasn't in "Special Ops"

IIRC there are something like 6-8 support troops(contractors?) for every trigger puller.

Correct. I earned this jacket twice - the first time with tax dollars spent on the military contract and the second time when I bought it at the thrift store.

No idea if these figures are true, however, it is estimated that they are about 800,000 real Viet Nam Vets still alive today, but there is about 2,000,000 that claim to be Viet Nam Vets.

Back in the 60's and 70's, you didn't tell people that you were even in the military, much less say you were a Viet Nam Vet.

This figure doesn't include guys that say they are Viet Nam "Era" Vets, not the same as Viet Nam Vets,

I've watched them. Pretty good stuff . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

There are only 1500 active duty SEALs at any given moment, and there have been fewer than 10,000 total EVER.
But if you sit at any bar in Virginia Beach or San Diego, you would think there were ten million of them.

The SEALS I have known do not advertise

And the other half advertise Tac Visors.

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Dum vivo cano

After computers, & before HIPA, we were able to see much/most of a vets history. To hear it from many of them they were in some type of combat unit. I guess NOBODY cooked or was "in the rear with the gear". You see stolen valor all the time. It's despicable & usually an easy to spot BS story, the 6'4" 40 y/o Vietnam tunnel rat.

usually its family - I have no idea if their kid told them the lies, but if military ever gets brought up, usually their son, but sometimes their brother, uncle or bestest kid served or is serving, and they are a Special Forces, Ranger Seal, and is a Major or Colonel.

I know I've hit the jackpot when they say, he's a young buck sergeant in supply working with a OPFOR unit. I believe that story

One of the funniest things I ever witnessed was a bunch of younger guys sitting around a tire shop waiting room bragging about how "bad" they were. All of them claimed to be veterans, and of course it became a measuring contest pretty quickly. Being an older guy, they just ignored me, but another older guy, who was a pretty tough looking customer, just sat there quietly listening to the other guys.

Finally, one of them asked if he was a veteran. The man nodded and said he was. So he was then asked for his "special skills and qualifications". The man quietly said that he was the deadliest, and most feared man on the entire base. After he said that, the room got very quiet. After a moment or two of silence, the questions started - "bet you're a SEAL", "nah, he's gotta be a Green Beret", "nah, I bet he was Delta force", etc.

The man looked carefully into the eager faces of the crowd and said "Nope, I was the company cook. You know, Death from Within!"

That happened years ago, but still cracks me up.

Regards,

Dave

The conversation might have been a pleasant memory if you just said "no, I picked it up at Salvation Army."

In the four years I served in the USN 70-74 I never meet one single SEAL. I was pretty much a wild child in my Navy days and very good at my job. Once while underway I climbed the mast dragging a welding stinger lead all the way up and welded a new antenna base in place, it was pretty spooky but was child's play by comparison to what SEALs do. Never wanted to be one and won't pretend to be one.

Sometimes I wear My U.S.S. Arizona hat I bought at the Memorial. Only had one guy challenge My wearing of the hat by asking Me if I was qualified to wear it. I said 'yes'. Most of the old guys knew what it was and told Me I wasn't old enough to have been on the Arizona so I got it at the Memorial.

I got back in 66 and was never afraid or ashamed of saying I was a Viet Nam Vet. Just got into a huge spat on another site after Rolling Thunder was mocked. Some things die hard, some never do.

At one time I lived within 30 miles of a certain base at Hereford in England. After the Iranian embassy siege in London, you couldn't go to a country pub in Herefordshire, Worcestershire or Gloucestershire without tripping over somebody claiming to be SAS or ex-SAS.

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Release the Kraken

Here's my SEAL story:

There's a guy, who owns a shop, who also claims to be a Vietnam SEAL. I've known him for years. I frequent his store, it's part of my weekly rounds - sometimes he gets interesting stuff in. Over those years, I've heard him tell some of his stories - The funny thing is, it's the same three stories with variations. his tales seem to be getting longer and longer.

He recently told a new story and another acquaintance happened to be there when I walked in. He said, "Hey, Ματθιας. listen to this story." So, I did. (I make my living listening, reading body language, to determine if this person is BSing me and wasting my time or if this person is legit -more often than not I'm right.) As the story went on it was obvious he was making it up as he went along. I tried to keep a straight face.

I'm not an expert on much of anything, but I do understand a few things and ...listening to him - his inconsistencies in stories, looking at his height, watching him handle weapons, I seriously doubt his claims. I don't say anything, I smile and listen.

That being said, I don't think it's my place to question him. If he wants to live in a fantasy world, that's on him. Is it worth my time and effort to research him? No. Eventually, someone else will call him on his BS.

Honestly, all I care about is that he gets stuff in and sells to me at a reasonable price.

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Thread Killer.

So what color is the boat house at Hereford?

Regards,

Dave

And if they weren't a SEAL they were a "Sniper." Met a guy who claimed so and I wrote off everything he said after "I hit a guy with a .303 Enfield at 3,400 meters."

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On the whistle draw and fire 6

What? That's only about a 60' plus or minus holdover. Bet I could do that if I had an Enfield.

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Some collect art; I shoot it!

My Buddy Don went on a SEAL Underwater training exercise.
When he told me about it,
All I could say was - sounds like a SCUBA outing at Tax Payer expense!

Attached Images

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

I think I ran into this sniper guy out in Oklahoma one morning while having breakfast in a café with a horse shoe shaped counter. I had finished breakfast and was reading the newspaper and having another cup of coffee. He was down the counter a ways with 2 or 3 other guys telling them how he had been a sniper in the, "NAM". He looked to be to young to have been in the war so I ask when he was born. He said 1960 so I responded the war ended for us in 1974 so he had to be 14.
End of his BS story.

Actually I've read the number is much higher. According to the 1995 Census something like 9.5 Million people claimed Vietnam service when less than 1.8 million actually did.

I served from '72 to '78 never went to Vietnam and spent most of my time in Germany and White Sands Missile Range.

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Support your Police, & NRA

Went to Thailand.
Learned to say sawadee cup!

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NRA LIFE MEMBER

Yeah I have heard that one before. This local guy I know claimed he was a sniper in Iraq. The real knee-slapper came when he said that he and an "enemy sniper" (he didn't specify which enemy or where) both spotted each other in their scopes and simultaneously stood up and threw down their rifles and walked away in a mutual display of the futility of war. LOL

Um, I don't think so. You don't just walk up to a random stranger and toss out an accusation like that. I took it as a personal insult. I was wearing the jacket, a white t-shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of black Chuck Taylor's. I was going for the Travis Bickle look - not pretending I had been in the military.



It's not like I was running around claiming I had served in the military - I was minding my own business and hopefully the guy learned to do the same. Maybe he had watched one too many of these videos and was just juiced up and itching to call someone out? If wearing a field jacket is considered "stolen valor" then Don Shipley could stay busy every day in North Georgia during hunting season.

So did my uncle. I asked him for "cool war stories" when I was a kid, and he replied that he was in the USAF stationed in Thailand during the war working in a radio tower. Said the only time he fired a weapon during his entire enlistment was a pistol during basic training. Big disappointment. I found out my grandfather and my great uncles saw a lot of action during WWII but they never talked about it. My grandfather took part in the Battle of The Bulge and my great uncle was with the 1st Infantry Division on Omaha Beach (2X Purple Hearts) but neither of them ever spoke of it.....

I don't wear hats, shirts or have VVet Lincense plates. I don't
bother to call out the wanna bees, they aren't worth your time.
Some were in the military and some weren't. Some were even
in country and some weren't.

I started reading about RVN about 20yrs ago and learned more
about it than was possible for an enlisted man to know while he
was there. I've got book on order of battle and if you know the
outfit Marine or Army it pinpoints who was were - when.

Most of the fakes don't know enough to tell a good story. They
do irritate me a little. Especially when one of these fakes finds
out you were in and starts with that welcome back brother stuff.
They all have the miniature medals on their hats and always a
CIB & Expert Rifle Badge. They can fool the public, maybe, but
wont fool a real vet.

Maybe a little off track, but wasn't the stolen valor act of 2005 rescinded by the Supreme Court? Could be wrong however...just wondering...will look it up now.
Randy

Yes, however it was reinstated (a revised version) in 2013.

Sometimes the prison term, fine or criminal record for a crime is a whole lot less severe than public scrutiny. I was well aware of stolen valor for many many years - just not to the extent I have recently discovered its being done. It seems the more coveted the service or position, the more stolen valor claims it gets. ie: Navy Seal, Army Rangers, etc.

Weather or not stolen valor is a criminal offense or not is (to me) irrelevant - it is a DISGRACE and the people perpetrating these despicable acts should be publicly shammed - IMO. If they can be legally arrested and prosecuted, all the better!

Was in an outfit in the Air Force that supported Special Forces and those I knew wouldn't have told anyone they were Seals or Special Forces !!

They didn't want anyone to know we were military .. For a while we had to travel in civilian clothes and not military class a uniforms .. was a time of kidnapping and killing of US people that were on airplanes traveling .. especially military ..

Viet Nam Era Veteran gets you nothing. I was in the Air Force from 1970 to 1974, in Thailand from October 1973 (after the Viet Nam bombing halt) until August 1974 (before South Viet Nam's high speed retreat from NVA).

Any medical problems I have, I have to pay for the treatment. Congress stripped many veterans of any VA health benefits by requiring "boots in a combat zone" if you served during Viet Nam era but were not in Viet Nam. I used my educational benefits to earn an engineering degree and buy my first house.

I've met several posers and caused them severe public embarrassment. I met an old poser my age who talked about the 9 round mag that fits the M1 Garand rifle. I was working with that piece of garbage so remained silent.

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S&WHF 366

A few things I consider immutable laws of the universe:

- The amount of spontaneous braggadocio is inversely proportional to the amount of actual involvement in said high-speed military activity.

- As a corollary, the amount of confrontational indignation is inversely proportional to the amount of service rendered.

I'm another one from the time when being a veteran was not something you mentioned in general society, as the reaction was almost certain to be negative. I divide the eras into pre and post 9/11. The whole "thank you for your service" thing seemed to only come along after the lefties (with their media, social media, etc.) figured out that hating service members and vets wasn't getting traction anymore. I'm convinced people mostly say things like that just because it's fashionable.

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TEAM DNF

The poser crowd would get a lot further if they claimed to be standard issue military. Clerks, cooks, truck drivers, and the like. But no, they've all gotta be operators, jumping out of airplanes with an M-16 in each hand and a Ka-Bar clenched in their teeth. It usually doesn't take long for a wannabe to trip himself up.

I have encountered no less than 5 Special Forces posers over the years, and two were in my unit. They had fabricated their jump wings and tab orders. A larger percentage, probably the majority, of homeless claim to be veterans and none say they were a supply clerk or a mechanic. I ran into this frequently as a police officer in the 80s and 90s. I had fun poking holes in their stories.

I found one guy walking around downtown Albuquerque in BDU's and wearing a green beret. He had non-reg patches and name tapes that he must have bought from Ranger Joes or someplace similar. I gave him a pretty good chewing out and told him I would arrest him if I saw him wearing a uniform again. I couldn't arrest him, but he didn't know that.

Amen to that! Long ago, I knew a couple of the genuine articles, and (a) you would never have guessed by looking at them and (b) they certainly didn't advertise!

God bless em all (and everybody else, everywhere, in the uniform of any nation in the free world who keeps my poor, ancient arse safe from the threats of the world today).

My dad retired from the Naval Reserve as a CW04. Seven years active, 26 years reserve. His last billet was as a Technical Observer for a Seal Team, and one of his last active duty assignments was a training mission in the Philippines. This is how he got his Rolex duty free. They were arriving in the US (San Diego) on return, flying commercial. Dad was in his khakis, the Seals were wearing jeans and torn t-shirts, bearded, long haired, generally looking like the unwashed homeless. Dad had bought a Rolex at the base exchange in the Philippines at great discount to US prices. Even paying import duty, he was making out. As they went through Customs, the Seals went first, and Dad followed, customs form in hand, Rolex duly reported. When asked for their passports, the Seals caused a kerfuffle, claiming not to have them. After a short "discussion," a customs officer sidled up to Dad and asked "Are you with them?" "Yup. Seal Team." Customs officer rolled his eyes, sighed, and shuffled everyone through a side door to the baggage claim. Dad never had to pay the duty . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Had to be Special Ops. Or somebody would immediately pop up and ask him about his posting there and his story would go to mud, quick.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Like the guy that spent his time confronting people about handicapped parking spaces, this guy sounds like he's looking for a confrontation, too and has his targets pre-identified. There must be a special word for people like this. One by which these guys would immediately know in one word. Kinda like we were talking about 'bubbas' on another post.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I've joked that there are always a couple of retired SEALS that hang around gunshops. But this ain't funny.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I respect and admire what real Navy SEALS do but can't understand the mentality of those that pretend to be one or claim to be some other sort of combat veteran.

Whenever a company tries to use the SEAL angle in their marketing I find it to be more of a turnoff and disregard the product as a gimmick at worst or at the least braggadocious.

Those who really saw combat aren't the type to brag about it let alone even want to talk about it.

For the record I'm a civilian who has never served and would never claim to have.

From reading this post I would
Rate you as a Army of one

That was your decision--to take it as "a personal insult."

I was picking a friend up for lunch on Nov.10th one year. In the window to the office were a set of "Gunny" stripes. The other guy had been a Gunny, my friend never got above E-5 in the Marines. Their joke was they were the only 2 old marines in Ohio, that were never snipers, or on Iwo Jima!

Ivan

One of my favorites. A guy comes into our VVA Chapter, wants to join, dressed in full regalia, must've had a standing order with Medals of America. Asked for a copy of his DD-214, (required for membership). He says, "I never got one. We were too far under cover, everything we did is still classified." Yeah, sure. There's the door, don't let it hit you in the ***.

With respect sir, you are incorrect about this. Absolutely no one covets the job of a SEAL, Recon or Ranger, not even those who really fill those positions. This is why the wash out rate is so high in the fist week of training. It is a suck *** job and we should be grateful for those who suffer through, finish the training and then continue on to actually do that job.

What people really covet is the respect those men engender. They want people to lavish them with praise, buy their meals and just generally stand in awe. The true warrior covets not these things. The true warrior covets a warm bed, a hot meal and some peace later in life because of all the horrible things they've had to do to protect our way of life. This is why there are posers and why every one of them should be ashamed of themselves and shamed by anyone who discovers their lie. We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.

I served 5 years on active duty and have spent the rest of my adult life working as a USAF government civilian supporting the war fighter. I've never been to combat. I didn't serve during a wartime period. That doesn't make me any less happy to have served nor do I feel less than those that did see combat. I worked in a laboratory; still do. Without me doing what I do, there would be no accurate, reliable guns. There would be no high tech aircraft that fly >Mach 1 without after burners. There would be no C-17 to fly the tanks in close to where they're needed and take our fallen home with honors.

No, I wasn't a SEAL or Para-Rescue, but what I do is vital to the mission.

Be careful with numbers because they can be confusing.

There were over 2M boots on the ground in Viet Nam. But there were over 9M who served on active duty during the Viet Nam conflict. They are Viet Nam vets too, just not the muddy, bloody kind.

As I stated above, I would never claim something I didn't actually do. I'm not old enough to have served in Nam (born in '66).

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Freedom isn't free.

...maybe later I'll watch some more. I could only take a few minutes before I was getting very agitated.

A phony SEALS worst nightmare is having a real one walk into the room.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"