BEEN WATCHING DON SHIPLEY'S FAKE NAVY SEAL VIDEO'S AND I AM ASTOUNDED!

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.

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.

LVSteve said:

At one time I lived within 30 miles of a certain base at Hereford in England.

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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."

ExRanger714 said:

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

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!

ExRanger714 said:

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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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.

ron_c said:

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,

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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.

Went to Thailand.
Learned to say sawadee cup!

ExRanger714 said:

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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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

Steve912 said:

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

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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.

THE PILGRIM said:

Went to Thailand.
Learned to say sawadee cup!

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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.

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.

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.

LVSteve said:

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 be SAS or ex-SAS.

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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 . . .

Whitwabit said:

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 ..

Click to expand...