[JLHarper]

They had a story on national news about some dude who was impersonating a US Green Beret from MD who had been KIA in AFGH.

His sister stayed on it and the fraudster was arrested in NY.

Seems there are a few guys dedicated to outing frauds, (retired Military) and who own or post on the few websites devoted to outing these guys.

I read a few of them....wow! Amazing attention to detail how they blow up pics, tap FOI for records and military sources, analyze each ribbon, medal, forged documents in the frauds picture and research to the conclusions that he "couldn't have been there" or "he was to young" or "decoration not in the correct placement on uniform"...all that.

Many are mentally ill, but some are working, and members of society...one was a LEO on duty when he was busted.

A lot looking for $$$ and scamming millions even from VA, attention and romance too...

Recall there is Fed Code now that makes impersonating even "a soldier" illegal regardless if money/value was scammed.

[i82much]

Originally Posted by Motor Daddy

Total soldier. The best soldier is the best looking in formation, presents him (or her) self professionally at all times (in or out of uniform), and if I call him at 0317 in the morning and tell him to get his sh!t together and meet me in 15 minutes, he'll be there 14 minutes early.

POS. Not to be confused with the total soldier, the POS might look like a total soldier because he/she maintains a clean military appearance, mainly because they don't do anything all day to get dirty. Their boots stay shiny because they make sure that they avoid dirt (read "work") at all costs.

As a senior leader I made it my mission to make sure to give the POS dirt time!

For my part, I wanted a guy in my team who could do two things - ruck and shoot. The rest is BS.

[Motor Daddy]

Originally Posted by i82much

For my part, I wanted a guy in my team who could do two things - ruck and shoot. The rest is BS.

I thought it was shoot, move, and communicate?

Did you tell your soldiers to not worry about haircuts and clean boots and uniforms because that's just BS? Did you side with the Privates when they came to formation with muddy boots? How about when the 1SG walked through your Platoon with you during the morning inspection and your soldier was standing there all screwed up? What did you tell the 1SG when he asked you why your soldier looks like sh!t? Did you tell him that other stuff is BS, that what the 1SG is looking at is one of the finest soldiers he has because he can ruck and shoot.? How did that go over with Top?

What did you tell the CG when your soldier went down town last weekend and got drunk and started a fight and caused a big uproar, that to not worry because that other sh!t is BS? Did you tell the CG that as long as that soldier can ruck and shoot he is outstanding!?

[i82much]

Originally Posted by Motor Daddy

I thought it was shoot, move, and communicate?

Did you tell your soldiers to not worry about haircuts and clean boots and uniforms because that's just BS? Did you side with the Privates when they came to formation with muddy boots? How about when the 1SG walked through your Platoon with you during the morning inspection and your soldier was standing there all screwed up? What did you tell the 1SG when he asked you why your soldier looks like sh!t? Did you tell him that other stuff is BS, that what the 1SG is looking at is one of the finest soldiers he has because he can ruck and shoot.

What did you tell the CG when your soldier went down town last weekend and got drunk and started a fight and caused a big uproar, that to not worry because that other sh!t is BS? Did you tell the CG that as long as that soldier can ruck and shoot he is outstanding!

I was junior enlisted, 96R. I did not care much what anybody thought. I could ruck, I could shoot, I could PT, and I could read a map. My appearance I kept good enough to stay out of trouble. 15 years l have been out and not much has changed. I can still hang when it counts, and I still do not give much of a **** what some brainwashed NCO has to say about it.

[Motor Daddy]

Originally Posted by i82much

I was junior enlisted, 96R. I did not care much what anybody thought. I could ruck, I could shoot, I could PT, and I could read a map. My appearance I kept good enough to stay out of trouble. 15 years l have been out and not much has changed. I can still hang when it counts, and I still do not give much of a **** what some brainwashed NCO has to say about it.

I had you pegged for what you are from the beginning. Carry on. You can be damn glad you never worked for me.

[i82much]

Originally Posted by Motor Daddy

I had you pegged for what you are from the beginning. Carry on. You can be damn glad you never worked for me.

Ok tough guy. Seriously? A motorpool REMF talking bad-ass on the interwebs. Not even a real soldier.

[Motor Daddy]

Originally Posted by i82much

Ok tough guy. Seriously? A motorpool REMF talking bad-ass on the interwebs. Not even a real soldier.

I wasn't trying to be a bad ass, I was stating facts. You can be damn glad you didn't work for me. Fact. I'm not trying to be tough, or threatening, I'm stating a simple fact that if you worked for me, you would have had to change your attitude or I would have had to adjust it. If the adjustment didn't go so well then off you go. Is that what happened? Your attitude about everything else except ruck and shoot was sh!t and they didn't see it quite the same way as you did?

[i82much]

Originally Posted by Motor Daddy

I wasn't trying to be a bad ass, I was stating facts. You can be damn glad you didn't work for me. Fact. I'm not trying to be tough, or threatening, I'm stating a simple fact that if you worked for me, you would have had to change your attitude or I would have had to adjust it. If the adjustment didn't go so well then off you go. Is that what happened? Your attitude about everything else except ruck and shoot was sh!t and they didn't see it quite the same way as you did?

I never really had any problems with my NCO's in my unit at all. They all knew I thought a lot of things about the Army were a bunch of crap. They also knew that I would do what I had to do to keep our unit from looking bad and to play the game. At the end of the day, I loved my NCO's and my unit but I hated the Army. So I got by. I was usually one of the first few guys to finish a company run and my boots were usually third from the worst in formation.

I did have a few run-ins with some power-hungry dip****s outside my unit that felt compelled to tell me I needed to have a better attitude. I let them know in no uncertain terms that I really didn't give a rat's ass how they felt, but that I would do what was required to meet the standard until my enlistment ended. And that's what I did. Those stripes have some power but not enough to stop someone from telling you what they really think, if they are careful about how they express themselves.

Funny, but I don't once remember any of the guys with Ranger tabs or EIB's in my unit busting my balls about the small stuff. I remember every one of them, I looked up to them. Plenty of weakbody supply sergeants and such with spotless sleeping bags that coped with their own inadequacies by shining their boots for two hours every night. I can't remember one of their names.

[Motor Daddy]

Originally Posted by i82much

Funny, but I don't once remember any of the guys with Ranger tabs or EIB's in my unit busting my balls about the small stuff. I remember every one of them, I looked up to them. Plenty of weakbody supply sergeants and such with spotless sleeping bags that coped with their own inadequacies by shining their boots for two hours every night. I can't remember one of their names.

I bet they don't remember your name either. You definitely don't know too much about Supply Sergeants, because if you did you would know that is one hell of a demanding job. Do you understand how much work goes into a change of command for a supply sergeant? Do you understand that a Supply Sergeant is a Motor Sergeant's best friend?

Did you make it to PLDC?

[i82much]

Originally Posted by Motor Daddy

I bet they don't remember your name either. You definitely don't know too much about Supply Sergeants, because if you did you would know that is one hell of a demanding job. Do you understand how much work goes into a change of command for a supply sergeant? Do you understand that a Supply Sergeant is a Motor Sergeant's best friend?

Did you make it to PLDC?

I am still in touch with quite a few of those NCO's. My unit wanted to send me to PLDC and the E5 board but it would have required me to extend my enlistment. I said no thanks. I was hardly the only guy with a good reputation that thought the Army was full of sh*t and didn't stay in despite having an opportunity to advance. Being an NCO is a respectable, fulfilling career that is right for a lot of people. On the other hand, plenty of people say to hell with the Army and go on to do other great things.

Like I said, I had a lot of respect for my GSR peers as well as the 11 and 19 series guys that we trained with. Whatever the hell supply sergeants, motorpool sergeants and such do, I am sure it is important. I just think it is pretty silly to pull the hard-ass military angle when your job is in the rear with the gear.

Some of my views have softened since the Iraq/Afghanistan deal. I know a lot of MOS's that used to be considered REMFs now have guys out doing some very dangerous things. So while I think you have to be a first-rate dip**** to really buy into the whole boots and uniform thing, I don't want anybody to misunderstand and I have the utmost admiration for anyone who has ever gone outside the wire.

[71SportRagtop]

I did 6 years in a Marine Corps infantry unit. What I know is this: In the Marines there is NO excuse for not being squared away. If you looked like sh!t, that was a direct reflection on your Fire Team leader and that was a direct reflection on your squad leader then platoon Sgt and so on and so forth.

NO Fire team leader would tolerate his guy looking like crap which is why we were in formation 1/2 hour to 45 minutes before we stood before our platoon leader. If a guy showed up looking less than stellar, the early formation gave guys time to get squared away before our platoon Sgt or platoon leader showed up.

As for guys impersonating military personnel, what pu$$ies. You want to wear the uniform? Then follow in the footsteps of the veterans before you. You enlist, you graduate boot camp, and you serve your country, simple as that.

[i82much]

Originally Posted by 71SportRagtop

I did 6 years in a Marine Corps infantry unit. What I know is this: In the Marines there is NO excuse for not being squared away. If you looked like sh!t, that was a direct reflection on your Fire Team leader and that was a direct reflection on your squad leader then platoon Sgt and so on and so forth.

NO Fire team leader would tolerate his guy looking like crap which is why we were in formation 1/2 hour to 45 minutes before we stood before our platoon leader. If a guy showed up looking less than stellar, the early formation gave guys time to get squared away before our platoon Sgt or platoon leader showed up.

I think the Marines have a way of really getting people to buy in. I knew plenty of bad-ass guys in the Army that would go to the bar with you and tell you just how stupid they thought the whole boots and uniform thing is. Marines somehow just seem to really believe in it all wholeheartedly.

For my part, I thought it was all a bunch of ****. What can I say. I know that may bother some who have served. All I can say is I volunteered for every deployment that ever came up, I was always on time, always did well in PT and at the range, never once quit on a ruck march, and my NCO's thought I was a pretty good troop. But they all knew I thought a lot of it was a bunch of ****. Not the deployments, the marksmanship, the mapreading, or the PT. But the uniforms, the freaking Army Ball, the mandatory XMas party, the room inspections? Yeah.

[TempestFugit]

Not everyone wearing a uniform is in a Marine Corps Infantry Unit.

Some, as discussed above may not even really be in the US Military. Heck, the guy in the picture above might be an extra in a Coke commercial. Or he might have just come home and is with his wife & kids for the first time in a while. One picture does not tell a complete story.

The guy does look like a shlubb. The picture does not reflect well on the US Military. But in the Military, there are a lot of exceptions. After all the guy is looking at a green energy exhibit.

As far as REMF, we're talking Rear Echelon Military Forces here right!? I hope so.

After four years as a Viet-REMF I take umbrage at some other interpretations of the term.

Working in situations where Military Protocol was counter productive to the mission, we were expected to dispense with it except when traveling on military aircraft, unless that travel also included civilian aircraft in which case we were not to wear uniforms due to the possibility of hijacking.

One time while traveling on a chartered civilian jumbo-jet with more than five-hundred battle weary troops going home from Nam, the plane's captain made an unusual announcement. Since it was the fourth of July ('72) and there had been some PROBLEMS getting out of there, and since many on the plane were going HOME!, when we reached international waters, drinks, he said, were 'on the house'....bad idea.

Since it was a military chartered civilian aircraft and I was traveling space available but not continuing on the next leg of the flight, I got off in Honolulu. I was walking down the street looking for the hotel Uncle Sam was treating me to when I noticed a Bird Colonel crossing the street and in my direction while loudly proclaiming strange oaths and incantations. After I veered starboard and saw that he veered too I realized that he was talking to ME!

Sprinkled in with his colorful language he was ranting stuff about being 'out of uniform'. Eventually it dawned on me that he meant that I didn't have my hat on.

Rather than dig through my stuff for my "Statement 205-3" (or was it 203-5?) I decided it would be better to just find my hat and hope he would stop yelling so LOUD.

He was right, I was out of uniform, (it's a good thing he didn't see the rest of the guys on that flight).

Like I said, in the Military, there are a lot of exceptions.

[PonchoV8]

I think this is the same guy as in the OP.

[71SportRagtop]

Originally Posted by i82much

I think the Marines have a way of really getting people to buy in. I knew plenty of bad-ass guys in the Army that would go to the bar with you and tell you just how stupid they thought the whole boots and uniform thing is. Marines somehow just seem to really believe in it all wholeheartedly.

Yes there is no doubt about it that the Marine Corps has a way of getting their people to "buy in". I bought in. When I was in we called it "esprit de corps". Which meant basically that brotherhood that is the Marine Corps.

The Marine Corps is VERY big on history and tradition. It is pounded into your head from the very moment you step onto those yellow footsteps on Parris Island. It still sticks with me today at 45 years old after being out of uniform for 19 years now. It's so brainwashed into my head that I can't even control it. And I'm not sure that I really want to. I am EXTREMELY proud of my service. I am always willing to talk to others about my time in the Marines and while I don't necessarily reveal all the details of what I've seen and done, I'm also willing to talk about my deployments during Desert Storm and Somalia.

In my opinion, the military is like a lot of other experiences in life: it is what you make of it. I look back on that time now and view it as the best years of my life. I was young, single, living in southern California (I was stationed at Camp Pendleton which is in Oceanside CA just north of San Diego), ect. I made lots of good friends, had a world of experiences, and as weird as it sounds I enjoyed the 2 deployments which actually let me put into use the training that I spent SO many hours of my life trying to perfect.