What do you say...

[MillRatUSMC]

What do you say, when you know what someone is telling is a lie?
Today, I rode my mountain bike, I ran into a boyhood friend of mine.
He was heading one direction and I another.
I told him that I would wait his returning.
While I was waiting, this individual comes up.
A little later while discussing bikes, I happen to mention that I had been riding to Community Veterans Memorial because the Bike Trail I was riding on today.
Had been close for some construction.
I told him that I was veteran of Vietnam.
That must not have soaked in.
He mentioned that he was born in 1960, so now he 44 years of age.
So that means that he was 5 when it started and 12 when it ended.
He started telling that he was in communications and how hot it was in Vietnam.
I wanted to scream, "Does he really believe the BS he telling me"?
In my mind I was saying "right, but I know that your full of BS!"
After telling those lies, they start believing their own BS.
Wantabee if I ever saw one...
About a half hour later my boyhood friend shows up and we dicuss work and retirement.
Because we both worked in the same shop and we're both retired.

[thedrifter]

MillRatUSMC

If it was me, I would have spoken up.....but I am known to cause trouble.....;)

Ellie

[cjwright90]

I'm with Ellie on this one. Did he seriously think you were a jagoff? I would have laughed out loud, straight in his face. Cook's 60 would have weighed more than him without a belt.

[grayshade]

I was not in 'Nam, but that jerk deserves to be put in his place. There are men and women that can say they were there, because they earned that right. And there are those that died, and cannot utter those words. So here comes this idiot, and bull$#@*s about something he knows nothing about. He's overdue for an enema. Who else thinks so?

:mad:

[DSchmitke]

I concur with grayshade on this one.

[HardJedi]

YEp. Call them out. I met a guy the other day, who JUST got out of a four year stint in the Corps. told a girl he was hitting on he was stationed on Guam for two years in security forces 02-04 ( he didn't know I was a Marine)

the Marine Security Foce Co left Guam in 92. I was one of the last Marines Left on that isalnd. Icalled hiom on it and the people he was sitting with got up and left. laughing LOL

[Sgted]

I'm with grayshade.
I would not have been able to keep my mouth shut.

[mrbsox]

I concur... call his hand.

Not that you are looking to start a confrontation, but because if he continues these 'tales', others may receive the wrong image of Vets, of any branch.

And let him know the Corps values HONOR and INTEGRITY, even someone elses. If he doesn't have it, YOU cannot value him, either.

Semper Fi

[Toby M]

I ran into several of these "hero's" while working as a Law Enforcement Officer in the local jail. Most were in "special forces" doing "classified work". Some even had the tatoos to prove their stories. Unfortunately, when pressed for details, they were unable to remember or couldn't talk about their time in 'Nam. When I mentioned having serving in the Marines and in Viet Nam, they clammed up! They received special attention befitting their "hero" status...also, most would have been in their early, early teens. One even did his time (in the Corps) in Cam Rahn Bay with the 123rd...(I'll never forget this guy)!

[MillRatUSMC]

Now, I must tell you, I'm having a hard time dealing with some postings.
Because my friend told me that a co-worker where we retired from had shot his wife than himself.
That co-worker name was Raymond A. Martinez, he liked being called RAM.
A story about RAM, he used to tell me that in 1967-1968 he tried enlisting in the Army, but every time he was asked why.
He would answer;
"He wanted to find out how it felt killing someone."
That wasn't the answer they wanted to hear.
So he never made to Vietnam.
On the 28th of June 2004, Ray found out how it felt to kill, first his wife than himself.
Which got me to think about the women of Home Depot posing for Playboy.
What kind of message are we sending young girls, if your born with the right genes and have a fairly gooding looking face.
You can pose for mega-bucks, don't worry about the blemishes, that lab can take care of those blemishes.
I know those women were adults, but exploitation is exploitation.
As a father of a daughter and grandfather to two granddaughters.
I would hate to see them subject to the same exploitation.
That in turn got me thinking about "rappers" they
have put down women in every shape way or form.
I should have told that jerk that he was full of it.
Than tried to explain why...
He wasn't worth it.
I doubt that it would have done much good...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

[Arlene Horton]

Unfortunately I met one of those bull#####ers when my former Marine hubby & I went to get eyeglasses. This clown claimed he was a sniper in 'Nam and earned a few medals while there. This idiot was so out of it information wise it was hard for us to keep our mouths shut (especially me 'cause my other half says I have a "big Polish mouth) when it comes to defending our Corps! He's getting old and grey and has really calmed down in his dotage! The next time I visited the store he worked at I asked where he was because I was ready to spout off. I was informed that he quit before they fired him, that someone inquired about his military service from one of his fellow employees. He said the boob never served one day in any branch of service that he was a perfectly useless 4F. Semper Fi to all you real heros.

[fulmetaljackass]

I've been reading so much about "wannabes" these days....the wrong kind of wannabes, not the young kids who want to make something of themselves by joining the armed forces, but the never-has-beens who lie about where they've been and what they've done.

I've come up with something. Maybe get them to admit to their bullsh*t by feeding their lie! When they open up the b.s. floodgates, start saying something like, "OHHH!!! You mean THAT unit! Weren't you guys that (insert totally off the wall and overly heroic action movie-like war story here) and then (ditto) and then (and again)????" Also, act REALLY excited like you were REALLY into them before you started feeding them your own b.s., and then when they claim those actions as theirs, CLAMP DOWN THE JAWS OF TRUTH!!!

I admit that's only a theory, and it even looks kind of far-fetched, but since wannabes like that are such pathologically-lying attention seekers, who knows what kind of bait they'll bite?

[MillRatUSMC]

After sleeping all night, I started thinking about my boyhood.
Its Americana, about 11 young boys bonded and we played several sports; baseball, football and basketballs.
We had names like Pete and Louie Herrera, George and Richard Ortiz, Fred Reyes, Louie De Luna, Fred and Jr. Lemos, Innocenio Garcia and Ricardo Jacques.
Out of those 11 odd names 5 of us enlisted in the Marine Corps
Pete Herrera, George Ortiz, Louie De Luna, Innocenio Garcia and myself Ricardo Jacques.
I was the highest rank as I was in the longest.
George got killed at the 29 stumps, he was a cannon cocker.
Pete got in a mass trouble later in life after the Corps,
Alcohol and pills don't mix, he killed a man and child in auto accident because he ran a stoplight.
Louie went on to become a detective of police.
Innocenio like me retired from the steelmills after being a 6x driver in the Marine Corps
In the late 40's and early 60's there wasn't much for young men to do but sports or chase wimmen.
There were more young men from my home town of East Chicago, Indiana in the Marine Corps, we could field our own platoon.
Times back then, it was either service in the Arm Forces or the steelmills.
But work in the steelmills didn't keep you out of draft, you still had to do service in the Army if you got drafted.
Many chose to enlist to get a choice of which service.
I told Rich Ortiz;
"How do you know when you're Old?"
My answer;
"When you think more of the past, than the future!"
That's when you know your OLD!...
Thanks for bearing with me on my recollection of being a young boy of 40's and 50's...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

[gwladgarwr]

Sounds a lot like the SAL member down at my Legion post who said my little trip to Iraq was nothing compared to what the 'Nam vets did (true, but I can only honor those who went before me by serving right now.) Of course, he was able to join the military when he was 18 - too late for 'Nam, but still could have joined but never did. But he sure knows ALL about being in the military, though. Maybe that's why I rate Legion and VFW membership and he doesn't.

Or the guy at Chelsea Joe's in Manassas who told me for three months that he was an old Navy SEAL; somehow I found out he was never in the service at all. I publicly humiliated him for it, and he soon was never seen again at that bar.

And the guy who said he was a retired Navy commander (had the little tanker jacket with the birdies on the epaulettes) and had a son in the SF in Afghanistan who just got killed (March 2003). He could sing Styx at karaoke just like Dennis DeYoung. Turns out he was a drifter/con man - never did a day of active duty. His "kid" doesn't exist. I checked.

On the flip side, the elderly gentleman I know who was at D-Day said he didn't "have it so bad" - he said he had to crawl over the dead bodies in the surf to make it to the Omaha Beach - and lived to tell about it. And it's this type of man that these "honor thieves" are robbing. I'm just glad I can claim the title and know I don't have to fake it.
:marine:

[Namvet67]

The Truth will set you free. It is always better to be a hasbeen than a wannabe. Some of these people being talked about have been telling these stories for so long that they start to believe that they really are veterans. I know several of them myself and I just let them tell their stories and fade away. However, I have never met one yet that claims to be a Marine (at least not in my presence). It would take me about 2 minutes to determine if he was a Marine (we all know what questions to ask).

[radio relay]

Wow, quite a leap.. from wannabe bs artists, to Home Depot playgirls.

Anyway...

I see these guys (phoney military Veterans) all the time.

For my little "retirement" job, I work front desk in a little roadside hotel. I get these yahoos all the time. They see someting, like my hats, or belt buckles, which all have stuff on them relating to the Corps, and/or Vietnam, and the comments start. Most often the phonies claim to have been Marines. Don't get a whole lot of phoney Viet Vets. I always throw out a test question, or two, to see if they're bs'ing. They're easy to spot, because they never have their units, or mos, or dates, or locations right. Sometimes, they don't even know correct ranks. I just want to punch them, but that wouldn't go well with my employer (also, I might be wrong). So, I just blow them off.

On another track, It is a great pleasure to talk to "real" Marines, and Vietnam Veterans. I get a lot of those, too. Funny thing about them is that the real guys are always throwing their "test questions" at me, too. The phonies don't do that.

Also, the kids just returning from Iraq, or Afghanistan, are a treat. I love letting them know personally how much I appreciate what they are doing. I give them a good dsicount on their rooms, and have a special gift for those being deployed, which is a bandanna with a protective prayer on it. Something from a stranger on the road, to let them know they are thought of and prayed for.

Every now and then, I also get a yokel who tries to accuse me of being a phoney. This is usually some Grunt dumbie, who has no clue about other Marine jobs, or doesn't respect anyone who wasn't a Grunt. Most Marines, who served in Vietnam never heard of either 7th Comm, or 5th Comm. To non-Marines they sound like Army units. 5th Comm was decommissioned in 1970, and never recommissioned. Even as a reserve unit. So, I have some understanding as to why the mistrust. I try to understand that, and be nice, but I will unload on those a-holes, if they keep it up.... Even at work.