Stolen Valor

What is it with Lefties claiming military service that they don't have? 

Here's another one from Niagara Falls, I guess.   He joins the hallowed ranks of Micah Wright, Jessie MacDeath and the many others who claim veteran status with no reason whatsoever to do so.  Look at the photos from a march at any of the current batch of anti-Iraq War veterans groups, and you'll see at least a handful of marchers in DCUs who have the uniform so dicked up you know they can't possibly be veterans. 

And it's not like most of them claim to be simple veterans (got in, did three years, got out).  Micah Wright claimed to be a snake-eatin' Ranger who jumped into Panama; when in fact the closest he ever was to being in uniform was when he talked to someone in ROTC. Jessie MacBeth claimed in front of anti-war audiences nationwide that he was a stone-cold killer who thought nothing of brutally murdering women and children in Iraq, when in fact he was never in the Army, and would likely piss his pants if he tried to tackle anything tougher than a GED.  And this Mike Hudson says he's a member of the VFW, when he's written elsewhere that he was in the Army for a few months and then got released.  The only people I know who served only a few months and then left the service, left under the "failure to adapt" clause, a catch-all discharge that obligates the VA to nothing since the servicemember never gave anything.  I guess one could call themselves a veteran if they served only a few months and got kicked out...but why?   

I have a lot of people write to me, and when they are sympathetic to servicemembers and the military in general and are themselves not veterans, that is almost always stated within the first few sentences.  The military is not for everyone, and there are hundreds of millions of Americans who have contributed to the greatness that is America without once serving in uniform.  And there will be millions more in every generation.  So what is it that these Lefties have missing in their life to make such a claim?  I don't get it.   

C;mon Lefties, stand up, be proud of the fact that you have never honorably worn a uniform.  I know that I am pretty damn proud of that fact.  And remember, Senator "second-place to a chickenhawk moron" Kerry himself says that you are the smarter for it. 

(update - I stand corrected on Jessie "mcdeath" Macbeth's military service.  It appears he was in for a month.  Having seen the picture of him that he tried to pass off as his ranger photo, and how dicked-up that was (sleeves folded wrong, wrong flash on beret, beret out of shape, etc) I didn't think he could have possibly spent any time in the Army.  I'm wrong on that, but clearly, if it was only a month, he couldn't cut it even in basic, never mind in Ranger School.)      

Comments

[madconductor]

Ahh, only in their own minds.... what's left of it.

[Consul-At-Arms]

Good post.

So far since 9/11 it's become more and more acceptable, even commendable, for vets to let their service be recognized and recognizable, from the recent campaign by the DVA to get vets to wear their medals on Veteran's Day to more pedestrian honoring of past service. That seems to make it even more popular for the frauds.

I've linked to you here: http://consul-at-arms.blogspot.com/2006/12/re-stolen-valor.html

[MissBirdlegs in AL]

I think they do it to give themselves more "authority" when they speak negatively of the Military and the current missions. There are so many lefties who WANT the military to be unhappy with current events that they fall for it hook, line, & sinker!

[Steven Den Beste]

Jessie MacBeth actually was in the Army, but they kicked him out after a month.

[pigilito]

If I remember correctly, having been in the military during an overseas action allows one to join the VFW. If so, this Hall character would seem to qualify (if he wasn't otherwise chaptered out of the military--which may be the case; I can't imagine the VFW accepting anyone who never made it through basic training).

The real question, as you noted, is why would anyone in his position claim veteran status and go to the trouble of joining a group dedicated to celebrating their military service? Something very odd there.

[Graham Fraser]

Why? Because they have zero honor, zero integrity and zero brains.

[marcus]

This Hudson fellow claimed in Tim's comments that his VFW membership was a "social membership", whatever that means.

[Diggs]

Okay, I can understand a "social membership" as the VFW drinks are usually pretty cheap. But here again, why would someone who clearly dislikes the military want even a cheap drink with a veteran?
As for serving for six months and qualifiying as a true veteran of a foreign war, it's very unlikely that a soldier would have been able to get through basic and AIT, and onto their unit, then over to Vietnam (as far as I know, our only conflict at the time in '74-'75) and serve there in six months time without having gotten wounded within a few days of arrival, then medically discharged a few weeks after that. Without claiming a purple heart, which this guy doesn't, it's impossible to have done service overseas, in a conflict, and been discharged in just six months. Impossible.

[Jay]

Let's also remember Tom Harkin (why does the Senate contain such a high percentage of losers?), who claimed to have been a vietnam combat pilot, but whose flying actually consisted of ferrying planes around the US.

[Joe]

Was that really a chicken hawk squawking at Long Tan recently.

[Steffan]

We weren't *fighting* in Vietnam in '74-'75 -- the war ended with the cease-fire signed in January '73, and Saigon fell in April '75. I was in the Army at the time, and I don't qualify for VFW membership. You have to be able to HONESTLY wear a campaign medal.

Al Gore can call himself a Vietnam veteran, even though he was a REMF who never left Saigon. Dan Quayle, who heroically defended Indiana as a member of the National Guard, can't.