Posted on 02/07/2015 7:20:11 AM PST by darkwing104
Exaggerated war stories around military installations and veteran’s hangouts are nothing new and probably as old as wars themselves. Many brave men want to be hero’s by fighting in great battles. Shakespeare’s Henry V gave a rousing St Crispin’s Day address to his troops, just as the real Henry had done some 200 years earlier. Each leader, the real and the imagined, had to encourage his “Band of Brothers” to fight the French in spite of the existence of overwhelming, 4-1 odds. Shakespeare’s Henry rallied his army with the stirring:
“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”
War stories are sometimes embellished by vets and even non-vets in the hope of showing off their bravery. And rather than being heroes, some showed up after the battle was fought. More often than not the real heroes don’t speak of their exploits.
When those who were never part of that “Band of Brothers” tell war stories they may get called out by the people who were really there. Such is the story of news reader Brian Williams
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
Henry V never forgave Falstaff for bragging about killing Hotspur when he was actually hiding behind a tree. Don’t piss off soldiers!
Sadly the number who claim to have served in Vietnam is three to five times those who did. There are so many phoney SF types it is pathetic. I ran into a fake here who tried to tell me he had a DSC. That was bad enough. Next he tells me the man who was with him. I about fell over as the man he talked about served with me in 68-early 69 and he was long gone when this clown claimed he was blown off a mountain in Laos. The Stolen Valor Act has been watered down.
When I first came back, no one had crossed into Cambodia with the CIA.
Now, when I talk to some of them, it seems that every soldier in VN went into Cambodia, but can't talk about it, 'cause it was "classified", doncha know?
Then there are the ones that can't even get the units straight.
Ask one of them (that you suspect is a glory-robber), what the numerical designator of the Americal Division was...and you get a blank stare, yet gazillions of them were assigned to it,'cause that was the unit of the My Lai perpetrators and they all knew those guys, personally.
It used to piss me off, but now it entertains me, especially when you get one that is about 50 years old and you know there is no way he was in VN, but he's got a war story which begins with: "Now this ain't no shit..."
It'll be the same way with the Iraq/Afghan vets and the glory -robbers with them, too.
I'm already hearing some of it and invariably, it starts with: "When I was in the sand box..."
It has been my experience through the years that most vets (and I'm speaking of combat vets) will not discuss and tell stories with just anyone.
They have to learn to trust you or you have to have some established, visible bonafides before they will start talking and even then, they use "code" words, so to speak, to test to see if there is an actual connection there.
As it should be amongst Warriors.
Such is the story of news reader Brian Williams...News Maker upper. Remember the News Maker Upper chick who sat in a boat telling us about how bad the flooding was (somewhere) and two guys walked into the shot and asking “How ya doing babe”? The water was up to their ankles.
There aren't nearly as many 'homeless vets' as some would believe, either. Once in a great while I bump into one claiming such, who says he was in the Corps. They look utterly puzzled when I ask what their MOS was, or stumble for an answer when I ask where they did boot.
We’ve got a local guy who sells American Indian goods (wooden toys, blankets, leather goods) at flea markets. He wears a Viet Nam Veteran base ball cap and tells crazy stories. He claims the government won’t acknowledge his service and he spent two tours in Viet Nam and the last six months in a bamboo cage.
I’ve pretty much ignored him; he’s a waste of skin.
His stories are as authentic as his “American Indian products.” The tags on the blankets say they were “Made in India.”
Without looking, I think it was the 23rd Infantry Div.
I was in it: 1/1 Cavalry. And I'm pretty sure I was in Laos once, when the Anamite Mountains seemed more to the east than west.
So at least I can say, "Well, I think I was there."
I should have snuck a peek at the Troop commander's map.
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