We found out later he was never in the service.
Why do they tell these stories or lie?
Oh they wanted to be there, they really did. They just never got around to joining, doing Basic/Boot nor putting their life on the line.
I was never in combat, my Dad did WW 2, my son the Marine freed Kuwait, my cousin Mike, may he rest in peace, was an AF Medic. His chopper was shot down when they went in to extract a pilot, he was shot full of holes while shooting back with his 1911. He survived.
He only told one cousin who served in the Navy and who he was lifelong friends with. The cousin told Mike's brother and the other cousins the story. Mike was a lifer in the AF, he retired with memories and scars.
The ones I mentioned above don't or did not talk about it. My son told me some but not all, enough to know his Corp rifleman training works to the suprise and bitter end for some.
Dad and I were much closer later in life. I felt he told me about his experiences when I asked so someone would know his story. At some point after Dad's funeral my siblings asked about Dad's service. They were shocked to find out I knew.
As an LE I have been in a few sticky situations, sometimes a wanna be ends up, for a while, being an officer of the law. Let me tell you that the wanna be's, the I was at the drug bust gun fest, liars need to be just that but some where else. not in LE or the Military.
YOU want someone you can count on to get your back, I have seen wanna be's break and run the opposite direction then the fan gets over loaded. They then blow up this giant Wyatt Earp story for the crowd/listeners. It was not for those of us there, we know what happened.