Believe it or not, servicepeople have been known to exaggerate or even lie about their military service. This may come as a shock to some (sarcasm), but its true. Like anyone else, a servicemember may lie about something just to make themselves feel more important, or to garner attention from someone like Reed Irvine, or just to impress a friend with a cool story.
This guy's account, as repeated by Irvine, strikes me as ridiculous. Not knowing what a missile looks like alone marks him as a fabricator in my book. And what are we supposed to believe? That the hundreds (and perhaps thousands) of Navy people who would have had knowledge of this alleged coverup have stayed silent except for this one guy? Or that this one guy is a kook who simply made it up?
And if the guy really is retired, what's the risk to him of blabbing anyway? Hell, go to a major media outlet, tell your story, get megabucks. That's the easiest, safest, and most profitable course of action. But of course, he doesn't do that because he's lying, and he knows it.