when can you call them out?

It is what it is and not what it isn't

Met one of these Wanna-be's last week and he claimed to be a an Ex-seal team six member. Claimed you will never see his name on a roster as he was a "Special" Ops group. The only "six" he ever got close to, was a six-pack. I did throw some basic Navy questions at him and even though he may had been in the Navy, he was never on a ship. ..... ;)

You have to just look at this guy and tell he barely made it out of boot camp .. ;)

Be Patient and;
Be Safe !!!
 
Sometimes you just have to say something that let's them know that you know.

I worked with a guy in TSA that was always telling us about his special forces exploits. He seemed unaware (even after being told) that the supervisor had and had reviewed his Long Form DD-214. Didn't matter, same crap every day.

One day, he was telling us how he had been one of the pioneers of H.A.L.O jumping (not the xBox Game, High Altitude Low Opening).

One of the supervisors finally said, "Yeah, I did some time in Spec Ops too."

"Oh yeah", says the bull-crapper, "what'd you do?"

"In-flight missile repair", he says. :D
 
Ask him if he halo jumped onto Godzilla - in the trailer for the new one in May 2014.

I got a guy who has a 50 caliber magnum pistol that will shoot through an 8 ft tree trunk. This was before the SW 500 or the 50 AE.
 
I can tell you, I really was a Secret-Agent Astronaut Millionaire. Then I gave it all to charity. Secret-Agent Tactical charity.

Seriously, there are guys like that in every walk of life. They're not worth getting worked up over.
 
I worked with a guy that claimed for years he was a door gunner in Vietnam in 69 - 70. He was very convincing and knew what he was talking about. Said his bird was shot down and he spent 9mos. in a POW camp. Named various areas,rivers, POW camps in Vietnam and told of actual happenings including torture he endured at the hands of the V.C.

Well, his older brothers that were actual retired military opened a gun shop and I started doing business with them. As it turned out, the guy I worked with had never been in the military and was using combined true stories of the happenings of the older brothers.

I was shocked to find this out and the two older brothers were highly PO'd to find out there younger brother was passing the stories around. To the point the brothers fired him from the gun store and would not let him back on the property.

To say the least, this fella's integrity was totally shot with those that knew him and very few people paid much attention to him thereafter.
 
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The first thing I would do is ask to see the degrees. I wouldn't concern myself with hurting his feelings. If he offers advice to someone new to guns he just might get them jailed or even killed. If he is going to be "doing the state police academy thing" I assume he is planning on being a state police officer. Trust me they won't care about his degrees and they will break him if he is a blowhard. BTW I am a police officer and a graduate of FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center). Also the 38 Special S&W snub and PPK may be off duty guns because most departments issue full size semi-autos of some sort for a duty weapon. If he tells you he will be an Investigator when he gets out of the academy I would imagine he is full of something rather smelly.
 
Heros are made, not born !!!

I was shocked to find this out and the two older brothers were highly PO'd to find out there younger brother was passing the stories around. To the point the brothers fired him from the gun store and would not let him back on the property.
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That certainly gets into the realm of "Stolen Valor" and as a vet, have absolutely no respect for anyone like that. I lost three very good friends during that conflict and about five more later from Agent-Orange. During this conflict, I was stationed on the east coast, on Destroyers and still do not consider myself a Vietnam War vet. I know what those boys went through. .. :mad:

Be Safe !!!
 
I was not there Pahoo, but lost a few older friends there and a few that couldn't cope when they got back as well. Including an Uncle.

In case I hadn't ever done it before...Thank You(as well as others) for serving.

Sorry for the thread veer.
 
If he tells you he will be an Investigator when he gets out of the academy I would imagine he is full of something rather smelly.
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An old, and nasty, trick that works quite well in organizations that use any sort of rank is to send mail to the target using a greatly inflated rank. :D

When you start addressing a corporal by the rank of Lt Col, his sergeants get kinda touchy about that.;)

You might want to anonymously keep in touch with him during his academy time. Maybe send him a pre-paid magazine subscription, deliver to the academy of course.

But either way, he will trip himself up pretty good eventually.
 
If they don't look like they could have ever in their life passed a BRC screener (pre req for recon), I stop listening to them pretty quickly when it comes to stuff like that. As far as shooting goes, I find that it's normally pretty easy to see how good someone really is if you ask them to go shooting with you.
 
Having been in uniform for a total of 16 years - both active duty and reserve - I have had a chance and honor to meet a number of real-deal combat vets and a few Spec Ops troops who have really been-there/done-that. In my experience - I have noticed is that they rarely talk directly about what they have done, especially with non-military folks.

The other thing that usually rings true when they talk about war stories is that I rarely hear the words "me" or "I". Even when my old section leader - a multi-tour Vietnam vet with scars on both arms and across his throat - would tell us anything about combat it was a) generally to point out something that would help us in doing our job and b) it usually started with "I knew this guy who...", or "there was this sergeant in my unit...".

Whenever I hear somebody bragging about his military or shooting background I make it a point to not hang around them. Even if I could point out that they didn't have a clue what they are talking about what does that get me? Loudmouths generally end up proving to everybody what they are made of. Those who wouldn't "get it" probably wouldn't be helped with my explanation anyway.
 
There was a guy that came to the range once that claimed to be Vietnam era veteran. (Claimed he was reservist never deployed.) He claimed to be a member of the USMC shooting team. Claimed to be an expert with anything that involved a projectile. He showed up with a .22 LR Ruger 10/22 decked out in tacti dodads, and a 9 mm Hi Point. With the rifle he could not print on paper at 25 yards. I tired it, 5 shots into a dime sized group at 50 yards off of sand bags. His shooting with the pistol was even worse at 30 feet he missed the target 10 of 15 times. (B-27) By miss I mean not even in the paper at all. I tried the pistol at 15 yards. 10 shots from the 10 to 8 ring of 10 shots fired.

His shooting called out his BS faster than anything else. Though I did suggest he go the eye doctor at the VA to get checked for glasses. Two other friends of mine there that are real deal vets laughed their butts off after he left. Strange but true most of the vets I know will spare the poor guy full of BS his feelings by keeping the comments in till the guy leaves.
 
I have noticed is that they rarely talk directly about what they have done, especially with non-military folks.
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Absolutely right. I've dealt with more than a few folks who've claimed some sort of super-secret SF experience right after "hi, nice to meet you." Generally, someone with any degree of military service can poke holes in their story pretty quickly.

Here's a fun one who worked with me in the cushy, non-security low-stress private sector, for awhile. I'm a civilian, but even I was able to tell his stories had more plot holes than a M.Night Shyamalan film.
 
Why would you want to? To make yourself feel superior?

I'm just glad others have failed to point out all of my shortcomings.
 
I actually feel kind of sorry for the folks who do that. They must have some really significant issues with self esteem. I have known a few like that and for the most part, just ignore them.
 
CajunBass said:
Why would you want to? To make yourself feel superior?



I'm just glad others have failed to point out all of my shortcomings.
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In most areas of life, I agree with this sentiment. When those 'shortcomings' involve diminishing or insulting the service of people who voluntarily went down a hard road in service of their countrymen, I can't say that I do.

I can forgive grammar, an occasional skeleton in the closet, or a rough past. I won't give a pass to anyone who makes the choice to seek adoration or respect by trading on the pain of others.
 
I'll never forget, after moving to Tucson in the mid-1980's, there were two prominent "Vietnam Vet" advocates who were always in the news, running veteran organizations, telling their stories, and pushing one issue or the other - but somehow keeping a distance between each other. A couple years later they were both exposed as fakes.

While I do feel strongly about bona fide cases of "stolen valor" I will generally give a pass to the routine loudmouth. They are the ones who are ruining any reputation they could hope to have.

I was once at a bar with a buddy who is very knowledgable about military history when he sent a drink to an older guy - a short, wirey, quiet Asian guy - at the bar. We got two drinks in return - and the three of us ended up talking for a couple hours. After the older guy left my buddy told me who he was - one of the first troops to join the Special Forces and spent most of the 1960's in country in Vietnam, did small team patrols dressed as VC, and actually did missions that are still classified. The man himself never said a thing about any of that.
 
I wonder if the scrutiny of FBI test to follow might cancel him as a candidate in the long run. The psych exams and lie detectors will likely prove him unfit, so don't worry too much!;)
 
Know a guy who did three tours in Vietnam, punching a typewriter in Saigon. He says he's proud to be a veteran, but don't call him a Vietnam vet, those guys were out in the grass getting shot at.
 
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