Disgrace: Pastor Makes Believe He was Navy SEAL, Aspects of Seagal Movie, GI Jane in Stories

Pundit Press ^ | 5/11/2011 | Thomas Ferdousi

[therightliveswithus]

It seems like people want credit for being heroes-- even when they are far from it. Now that Osama bin Laden has met his end at the hands of Navy SEALs, there are many that want to jump on the bandwagon.

One case is a pastor from Pennsylvania, Jim Moats, who has been telling his congregation for five years that he was a Navy SEAL in Vietnam:

Apparently at least part was based on Steven Seagal's 1992 film Under Seige:

Among other things, Moats said he was subjected to waterboarding when he trained at Little Creek Amphibious Base in Virginia Beach in 1971 and was assigned dishwashing duty for his bad attitude. "I had almost no discipline. I was as wild as they came. That was my nemesis," he told the paper. "They weren't looking for a guy who brags to everyone he is a SEAL. They wanted somebody who was ready but had an inner confidence and didn't have a braggadocio attitude."

He also lifted part of his story from the 1990s movie GI Jane:

[therightliveswithus]

What a disgrace

[2banana]

Note to all wanna-bees...

Under Seige and GI Jane are the worst places to go to get intel on how to “act” like a Green Beret, SEAL, etc.

[Gena Bukin]

Undercover officers posed as students, attending classes for most of the school year and even doing homework

Why would someone fake being a SEAL when it is well-known that there are established and very effective organizations (made up mostly by former SEALs) in place with the sole purpose of uncovering such fraudulent claims. It isn't like they have a difficult time doing so. Just a few phone calls to some buddies and that's it. Busted!

[Gena Bukin]

Oops. Copied and pasted a quote from a previous article.

My post still stands though.

[wideawake]

"There was a guy in my unit named Francis Sawyer. But he told us that he preferred to be called Psycho, and if we called him Francis, he'd kill us. Good times."

Pastor Jim Moats

[DCBryan1]

Looks like we have a regular fraud ala:

William J. Clark "Fake army captain".

Jesse MacBeth, Fake Army Ranger

John Kerry "Fake Vietnam War Hero"

Actor Brian Dennehy, "Fake Vietnam Veteran"

Barry Soerto, "Fake American Citizen" ;)

[DCBryan1]

"There was a guy in my unit named Francis Sawyer. But he told us that he preferred to be called Psycho, and if we called him Francis, he'd kill us. Good times."

Pastor Jim Moats

Lighten up Francis!

[isthisnickcool]

I met a fellow years back that wrote a book called “Stolen Valor”. I was amazed at how many people were fakes when it came to the military.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

For future reference, only 4 SEALs have ever received the Medal of Honor. Not a particularly difficult group to remember. Only three of them are still alive.

To his credit, one is Senator Bob Kerry (D-Nebraska).

One was Thomas R. Norris, who rescued a pilot in an action later portrayed in the movie “Bat*21”. He is missing one eye and part of his skull, which did not prevent him from being an FBI agent for 20 years. I don’t think *anyone* would doubt him on anything.

The 3rd was Michael E. Thornton, who rescued Tom Norris six months *later*. He is a founding member of SEAL Team Six. Not someone to trifle with.

And the 4th was Michael P. Murphy, KIA in Afghanistan. RIP. He and his men took many enemy with them.

[WOBBLY BOB]

I'm just a kook.