• Watch Out for Scammers!

    We've now added a color code for all accounts. Orange accounts are new members, Blue are full members, and Green are Supporters. If you get a message about a sale from an orange account, make sure you pay attention before sending any money!

If you're going to call out someone for stolen valor......

I don't think you know what you're talking about. SSBN crews do nothing but disappear in the wide open ocean. Their one and only job is strategic deterrence.

They do absolutely nothing else at sea. Certainly not place the boat in any situation where detection is even remotely likely.

Go back to sleep.....

That is a mission that they do most, not the only mission.
 
  • Like
Reactions: deersniper
I have a Special Forces T shirt from Hurlbert that i will never wear because i never was in the Military. lol
 
My favorite is the 'what was your MOS' question. First, I could probably tell most people I was a 82769A-12H and they'd be like, oh ok. Secondly, the look on their face when I tell them Shutze-Gebirgsjager is priceless.

The icing on the cake is how noone (including alot of actual .mil people) knows anything about DoD/DoS contracting.
 
That is a mission that they do most, not the only mission.

SSBNs do nothing else besides strategic deterrence. I'm 150% sure of that.

You're confused between SSGNs (which look like SSBNs because that's what they used to be) and SSBNs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: oneshot86
SSBNs do nothing else besides strategic deterrence. I'm 150% sure of that.

You're confused between SSGNs (which look like SSBNs because that's what they used to be) and SSBNs.

The last non-Ohio class SSBN was retired in the early 90's and those boats "did stuff." I'd imagine that there are vets at the VFW that have a lot of stories that they'll never be able to tell that were career Boomer guys.

Ohio class SSBN's never do anything, or maybe they do, but either way I can't tell you about it.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Huskydriver
I wear a shirt that I had made that says:
DANGER
AVOID DIRECT EYE CONTACT


Probably a good idea if you look like this:

th.jpeg-1.jpg
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Foul Mike
I was a C-130 Navigator in the Marine Corps. Is it odd that I don't mind answering that question when somebody sees a hat, or shirt, or the flag outside my ranch? I don't really get what the big deal is, or why that question has anything to do with "Stolen Valor", but ... whatevs! If I wear service-related clothing ... I feel like I'm kind of "inviting" the question. If I didn't want to talk about my time in the Marine Corps, I should wear a shirt with a Cocker Spaniel on it, or something like that. I'm just sayin' ...
I can tell you're legit, because nobody but a winger would ever use the phrase 'whatevs'... :ROFLMAO:
 
  • Like
Reactions: deersniper
I have to face this from time to time an Eligibility Specialist at the VA. Some vets tell me about things, but if it's not on the DD-214 I can't credit it. I have to send it up the National Center to have them verify. Some guys are selling big ass wolf tickets, but I try not to call them on it, I just tell 'em if it's not verifiable they will have to talk to National. I can usually tell from the Service Connected conditions they have and their demeanor. From where I sit, someone whether 4 years or 30 with 10-15 or more injuries, I know my Brother didn't get it servicing mini-widgets in some secret squirrel job. By the same token, few of the folks that spot my Recondo patch know what the hell they're looking at either. It's sad to me that some grown males, won't call 'em men, have such a poor self-esteem that they think they have to pose as someone they didn't have the stones to be...only to act pissed when called on it.
 
From time to time, I hear about these "badass" Marines that people tell me I have to meet, the types who apparently have done everything and been everywhere with a hundred stories for every occasion. It's funny though, as soon as I'm around they're nowhere to be found. Blowhards are rarely legit, and go out of their way to avoid those who are.

@Foul Mike, one of my co-workers overseas started off as a young private in RVN, saw his first battle at Khe Sahn and ended up retiring as a SgtMaj. Him and a few other Vietnam Veterans were pretty tight on the camp, and we got a new boss who we heard served as a SBU/SEAL in RVN, so they of course went to talk to him. Shortly after he arrived, we had to pick up and learn how to shoot a bunch of RPGs and GP25s to train the Afghans on, and the new boss came out to the range because he was going to show us how it was done as he supposedly had so much experience with those weapons in SWA. This guy talked his game up hard and the RVN guys got him to keep talking, because his 2+2 was equaling 83. Wrong battles, wrong places, wrong equipment, gaslighting, subject changing when questioned, the whole works. Well, retired SgtMajs have active duty Flag Officer friends, and it only took a few emails to figure out the guy was full of shit and even got past the DoS vetting process to be hired for the position. Once that word went up, he promptly tendered his resignation and went home.
 
I don't think you know what you're talking about. SSBN crews do nothing but disappear in the wide open ocean. Their one and only job is strategic deterrence.

They do absolutely nothing else at sea. Certainly not place the boat in any situation where detection is even remotely likely.

Go back to sleep.....
A deployment on an SSBN qualifies for entrance to VFW.
SSBNs do nothing else besides strategic deterrence. I'm 150% sure of that.

You're confused between SSGNs (which look like SSBNs because that's what they used to be) and SSBNs.

I made that distinction in my post. The SSGNs and the Jimmy Carter have...well, if we knew we couldn’t talk about it.
 
Who in the fuck can't remember what unit they were in in a combat zone? I will never forget.
Well, me for one. I honestly can't remember any of them. Now I have the nice little certificate for the "love me" wall I can go read off of, but except for my main squadrons I was assigned to I honestly can't remember any of them. They did all have "Expeditionary" in them though.
 
Full auto M16 -A1s were issued long after the Vietnam war was over. We had them at Ft Bragg in 84-86.
M16A1 production stopped circa 1982 but they weren't officially gotten rid of until much later. The Army held onto them until the late '80s before switching to the newer A2s and they were still kept for training purposes up until the 2000s. I wonder if any are still in use, just with different furniture and uppers as A3s or carbines.
 
so whats the consensus if someone was given a unit logo apparel item such as a ballcap from a family member who is in that unit? is the wearing of said item then posing? stolen valor? or just pride in the accomplishments of another? axking for a friend.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bender
so whats the consensus if someone was given a unit logo apparel item such as a ballcap from a family member who is in that unit? is the wearing of said item then posing? stolen valor? or just pride in the accomplishments of another? axking for a friend.

Wear whatever clothing you'd like to and if anyone gives you shit about it shove said item up their ass.

Also Marine Corps issued DMR M16A2 are Semi - Full auto and have a heavy barrel with a piece of shit Leoupold 10x circa 2004-2006.
 
  • Like
Reactions: j-huskey
so whats the consensus if someone was given a unit logo apparel item such as a ballcap from a family member who is in that unit? is the wearing of said item then posing? stolen valor? or just pride in the accomplishments of another? axking for a friend.
my GF has a 1st cav patch her father gave her on her suitcase (he was 1st cav in Desert storm)....no one has ever given her shit about it.

pretty sure it has more to do with what you say than what you wear.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Blutroop
My son in law is a nuclear engineer and served on LA class attack subs and Boomers. I asked him what they do out there and he just smiles and says "we just sail the seven seas"...... Nothing else.

Regarding stolen Valor... I cant think of anything lower or slimier than claiming to have served when you didn't. Many relatives in WWl, my dad in WWll, my older brother during Vietnam...my oldest daughter was a Navy officer. Nixon ended the draft in January of 1973 (my senior year) so I didn't get involved in Vietnam.... Imagine having to look your daughter in the face if you got found out you lied about serving... Disgusting. Hats off to all who did serve.
 
so whats the consensus if someone was given a unit logo apparel item such as a ballcap from a family member who is in that unit? is the wearing of said item then posing? stolen valor? or just pride in the accomplishments of another? axking for a friend.
Wear it with pride knowing that a friend wanted you to have it. If someone challenges you, tell them to mind their own damned business.

THAT is the kind of stupid, autistic shit that drove my post.

This is a good summary of what stolen valor is and is not:
The Stolen Valor Act of 2013 (Pub.L. 113–12; H.R. 258) is a United States federal law that was passed by the 113th United States Congress. The law amends the federal criminal code to make it a crime for a person to claim they have served in the military, embellish their rank or fraudulently claim having received a valor award specified in the Act, with the intention of obtaining money, property, or other tangible benefit by convincing another that he or she received the award.

The current federal law is a revised version of a previous statute struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States in United States v. Alvarez. In Alvarez the Supreme Court ruled the arrest and prosecution of a citizen for wearing unearned military awards, who did so without criminal intent, violates their constitutional right to freedom of speech.
People need to pay attention to all the elements of the crime as well as the reason that the first attempt at this was swatted by the USSC
 
  • Like
Reactions: DustBun
Well, me for one. I honestly can't remember any of them. Now I have the nice little certificate for the "love me" wall I can go read off of, but except for my main squadrons I was assigned to I honestly can't remember any of them. They did all have "Expeditionary" in them though.

The funny thing about all the "Expeditionary Force" deployments is that most of the places we went to, we'd already been there.

How the hell can they call it an Expedition if you're not really breaking new ground?

Hell, we sent Advon teams to places for no apparent reason other than to get a vacation "setting up" what was already contracted.
 
Well, one of them really was expeditionary, as you defined it anyway.
In the mid-late 90's we (my squadron) started breaking ground at a place called Al Dhafra. We had just come over from Fujairah. To say things were austere is putting it mildly. My how that base grew!
Another was the building up of Al Khargh, affectionately known as "Al's Garage".

For @FoulMike, I looked it up, one if them was the 763 EARS. Another was 9 EARS. There's more, but the point is made.
The funny thing about all the "Expeditionary Force" deployments is that most of the places we went to, we'd already been there.

How the hell can they call it an Expedition if you're not really breaking new ground?

Hell, we sent Advon teams to places for no apparent reason other than to get a vacation "setting up" what was already contracted.
 
Last edited:
My son in law is a nuclear engineer and served on LA class attack subs and Boomers. I asked him what they do out there and he just smiles and says "we just sail the seven seas"...... Nothing else.

Regarding stolen Valor... I cant think of anything lower or slimier than claiming to have served when you didn't. Many relatives in WWl, my dad in WWll, my older brother during Vietnam...my oldest daughter was a Navy officer. Nixon ended the draft in January of 1973 (my senior year) so I didn't get involved in Vietnam.... Imagine having to look your daughter in the face if you got found out you lied about serving... Disgusting. Hats off to all who did serve.


It is like being caught red handed stealing from a friend or coworker... Don't EVER expect to have peoples' trust in you rebuilt again if you had stolen from them, even if they pretend to forgive you...

Employers HATE thieves the most. They rather you be an ex con brawler who gets into multiple fights every week than some fucker who steals...
 
I've personally run into this. It's especially bad if you're Special Forces or some other unit that has more wannabe's than actual members. I don't like to talk to people as it is, and I certainly don't tolerate random interrogations.

To avoid random interrogations just tell them you were a chaplains assistant. It’s an almost universal conversation ender.
06E2CD09-0B2A-4C1B-961E-6C6496CB305F.gif
 
I rarely wear army related clothing except for one of my Dive school instructor sweatshirts from when I was stationed at NSA panama city. I wear it only around the house or when I go walk the dogs with the wife. I dont wear any of my badges or anything with my uniform and it is only worn with my dress uniform.

I dont feel the need to have a dick measuring competition with anyone.

My actions as a medic are known to those I have worked with and worked on and those people already know what I have done. I dont need to prove myself to anyone. I know what I did and that's all that matters.

Doc
 
Not stolen valor really but maybe. I was in Home Depot the other day and this guy was wearing a Blackwater hat, Blackwater T-shirt etc. I was in the paint aisle looking for fucking paint, pissed off about having to paint. The guy looked like a methhead. So I asked him if he used to work for Blackwater. He said he couldn't talk about it. I said but " You can advertise just cant talk about it ?" He walked away and I made my paint selection. I got back to the truck and I realized I was wearing a Academie hat my nephew gave me. I had a good laugh.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Foul Mike
To avoid random interrogations just tell them you were a chaplains assistant. It’s an almost universal conversation ender.View attachment 7374097

I've thought of saying something like that, but it's a little insulting to Chaplain's Assistant's, and they served too. If pressed, I just tell the truth, don't really care what other people think. I do always have my ID card and SF Association card.
 
Interesting discussion. I have something that feels related. I have peacetime support guilt. USMC 84-2000. Electronics Repair. Desert Storm tour but served in some rear port. How the hell can I not remember the name of that place. Sleep all day, work all night soldering little electronic gizmo's back together. I got out in 2000 because they were removing my MOS. Has 6 years time in grade as an E-6 but had very slim prospects of promotion and we had been at peace forever. On to a new life I went and then we all know what happened. It crushed me. I felt horrible for leaving. No Iraq, no Afghanistan. Was I even a real Marine? I mention to some friends that I served but mostly I never really talk about it. I still struggle with it. We just put up a new 20 foot flagpole in our front yard. The wife got a USMC colors to run underneath the American flag. I really debated internally putting it up. Not because I did not love what it stood for or my service, but I still feel the same. The combat folks... they earned the respect and I still feel like I have not done my share. I have never spoken about this, except with the wife, but it felt right to say here.
 
So I had a bit of a puffed up chest when I got out. I thought I was something special.
eventually I realized that even if your a big fish in a small pond, that small pond connects to the ocean.
As I became more humble I found more knowledge and badasses around me.
Then on here I began to notice some real knowledgeable people on here.
Then I realized that the real badasses don’t really even say what they were. If you watch the wise ones they occasionally drop little hints or clues to were their knowledge comes from and what organizations they interacted with.
I just wish I woulda been quicker to humble myself and maybe I coulda learned more.
Now we are approaching times when that knowledge may be neccissary again.
And now that I am getting old myself and realize how little I do know.
I have no Old mentors to teach the things not found in books.
Im far enough away that no one can pay me a visit for a weekend..
And with my family staying in tents I don’t even have comfy arrangements to offer up to any old travelers looking for someone smart enough to listen, but dumb enough to need to listen.
If you are one of the Silent either find someone to talk to or find someone to listen to.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Foul Mike
I am 45, more than 90% of the dudes I work with served in some capacity, but I work as a civil servant so it is expected.

There are dudes that have unit shit festering their walls up and down their cubicle like they were rock stars.

I have a big office, and a big conference room. The shit that is hanging on the walls are maps that I need to get around. The rest was here when I got here. It will be here when I leave.

I have a aoudad ram at the taxidermist. When that fucker is done if he doesn't smell too bad I'll put him in my office. Because I know the chick I am married to doesn't want it in the house.

The worst ones for unit bullshit decorations are retired Army dudes. Especially if there were involved in something cool, but weren't really a killer but more of a wipe the killers ass kind of guy. What we would call a Yeoman in the Navy, or admin type.

Usually they went to ranger school and have the tab, but not the scroll.

I was a Navy Parachute Rigger and an then assigned as a Intelligence Specialist (but really wasn't one), I was in some interesting units but nothing super cool. Deployed a lot didn't do anything remarkable and retired 20 years later.

Thought about buying some squadron plaques from one of the dudes that makes them, but don't really see me spending $175 on a piece of painted wood to hang on the wall.
 
I am 45, more than 90% of the dudes I work with served in some capacity, but I work as a civil servant so it is expected.

There are dudes that have unit shit festering their walls up and down their cubicle like they were rock stars.

I have a big office, and a big conference room. The shit that is hanging on the walls are maps that I need to get around. The rest was here when I got here. It will be here when I leave.

I have a aoudad ram at the taxidermist. When that fucker is done if he doesn't smell too bad I'll put him in my office. Because I know the chick I am married to doesn't want it in the house.

The worst ones for unit bullshit decorations are retired Army dudes. Especially if there were involved in something cool, but weren't really a killer but more of a wipe the killers ass kind of guy. What we would call a Yeoman in the Navy, or admin type.

Usually they went to ranger school and have the tab, but not the scroll.

I was a Navy Parachute Rigger and an then assigned as a Intelligence Specialist (but really wasn't one), I was in some interesting units but nothing super cool. Deployed a lot didn't do anything remarkable and retired 20 years later.

Thought about buying some squadron plaques from one of the dudes that makes them, but don't really see me spending $175 on a piece of painted wood to hang on the wall.

LOL Ive seen all of this before. Guys with offices/cubes filled with random 'I love me' shit that when you look at it and know what youre looking at you just roll your eyes.

They also can never specifically tell you what exactly is it that they did because there are literally no interesting details.

All I have on my wall is a nicely embossed framed picture they awarded you at the end of sniper school that has the original gangster '10 commandments of the sniper' from back in WW2 that has my award patch for combat hits on it. Other thing is a picture of me shooting someone elses EBR off a roof at a FOB being constructed that we did convoy/site security for, came under rocket attack with some Hadjs wanting to try and assault us and I grabbed someone elses rifle, went up there without anything but my clothes on a radio and a few mags and did my thing.

Apparently, someone thought this was a fantastic time to take a fucking picture instead of you know, shoot at something, but whatever.

That's it. I have more random shit like an original WW2 German sniper mask and a 1930s original newspaper that says Austria Joined To Germany (lol low Germans) than I do anything else.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Foul Mike
Wear it with pride knowing that a friend wanted you to have it. If someone challenges you, tell them to mind their own damned business.

THAT is the kind of stupid, autistic shit that drove my post.

This is a good summary of what stolen valor is and is not:

People need to pay attention to all the elements of the crime as well as the reason that the first attempt at this was swatted by the USSC

A family member who was a SWO (late 80's to early 90s) started raging about stolen valor out of the blue about 5 years ago. Anyone that wore anything resembling a military insignia or had the name of a branch of service on it he deemed stolen valor. I don't think there is a single instance where someone was actually was actually stealing valor, they just had a sweatshirt that said USMC or a surplus flectarn hat.

I knew he had gone full retard when we walked past a store selling NYC PD garb and he angrily said anyone who would wear that stuff was just faking being NYC PD.

His assumptions have proved wrong several times. Embarrassingly so. But it has not stopped him. And he cannot stop repeating stories about the time he got to grab the helm of whatever boat he was on. Unless the person he is speaking to was also in the Navy, then he is a mute. I have no idea why.

I know for sure that one of his manly-man hero stories was stolen from someone who was in the Army. Pretty fucked up.

He has become a social pariah. Especially amongst family and friends that served.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Foul Mike
A family member who was a SWO (late 80's to early 90s) started raging about stolen valor out of the blue about 5 years ago. Anyone that wore anything resembling a military insignia or had the name of a branch of service on it he deemed stolen valor. I don't think there is a single instance where someone was actually was actually stealing valor, they just had a sweatshirt that said USMC or a surplus flectarn hat.

I knew he had gone full retard when we walked past a store selling NYC PD garb and he angrily said anyone who would wear that stuff was just faking being NYC PD.

His assumptions have proved wrong several times. Embarrassingly so. But it has not stopped him. And he cannot stop repeating stories about the time he got to grab the helm of whatever boat he was on. Unless the person he is speaking to was also in the Navy, then he is a mute.

He has become a social pariah. Especially amongst family and friends that served.
I don' t understand what's wrong with people like him
 
Interesting discussion. I have something that feels related. I have peacetime support guilt. USMC 84-2000. Electronics Repair. Desert Storm tour but served in some rear port. How the hell can I not remember the name of that place. Sleep all day, work all night soldering little electronic gizmo's back together. I got out in 2000 because they were removing my MOS. Has 6 years time in grade as an E-6 but had very slim prospects of promotion and we had been at peace forever. On to a new life I went and then we all know what happened. It crushed me. I felt horrible for leaving. No Iraq, no Afghanistan. Was I even a real Marine? I mention to some friends that I served but mostly I never really talk about it. I still struggle with it. We just put up a new 20 foot flagpole in our front yard. The wife got a USMC colors to run underneath the American flag. I really debated internally putting it up. Not because I did not love what it stood for or my service, but I still feel the same. The combat folks... they earned the respect and I still feel like I have not done my share. I have never spoken about this, except with the wife, but it felt right to say here.

The questions are very simple:
  1. Did you do your duty?
  2. Have you claimed to have been something you were not?
If you can answer both correctly, you have nothing to be ashamed about or feel like your service was less than anyone else's.

Live in the moment.
 
When I am asked if I ever served I tell them I was in the Air Force for 10.5 years, that is it. Most people then ask if I was a pilot, because of course that is the only AFSC in the AF, so I tell them what I did. I never tell them I was a 546X0 or the official title, Liquid Fuels Maintenance Specialist, because I would get a blank stare. I tell them I worked on fuel storage and distribution systems, e.g. tank farms, gas stations and when I was in RED HORSE I refueled heavy equipment and built mini tank farms on exercises. I then get an “Oh”. 😴 I can assure you I have never been accused of stealing valor with that AFSC.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Clearlight
When I am asked if I ever served I tell them I was in the Air Force for 10.5 years, that is it. Most people then ask if I was a pilot, because of course that is the only AFSC in the AF, so I tell them what I did. I never tell them I was a 546X0 or the official title, Liquid Fuels Maintenance Specialist, because I would get a blank stare. I tell them I worked on fuel storage and distribution systems, e.g. tank farms, gas stations and when I was in RED HORSE I refueled heavy equipment and built mini tank farms on exercises. I then get an “Oh”. 😴 I can assure you I have never been accused of stealing valor with that AFSC.


Never saw a pilot in a plane with no gas in it do anything heroic............
 
This thread is giving me some great chuckles thanks fellas :). One of my ex work mates,
an EBG used to wear a t-shirt with a picture of swallows (birds) on it. If anyone asked
what she did she would tell them she was stripper. Used to near piss myself laughing.
I tell people I’m a musician or ‘landscaper’.... Every now and then, it’s nice to run into
the real deal and share some stories though.