Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 12/08/2009 12:54:10 PM PST by SmithL
you must mean the bronze star. Silver Star awarded for herism in combant.
Good man. I’m SAC, 4252 Bombardment Wing, ARC LIGHT, Kadena, 1968-69.
No, it’s NOT totally harmless. It cheapens and demeans those who actually were awarded those medals for extraordinary effort and heroism under fire. And too many people who never even served call themselves Vietnam veterans. Some do it because it became “chic” to do so; others because there are some financial benefits for being a veteran, being a war veteran, and for having been awarded medals for heroism. They are guilty of a MOST serious crime and fraud on businesses, the government and other veterans. I recall that a JUDGE who had never served called himself a Vietnam veteran and said he had won some prestigious medal WHEN IT WAS ALL A SHAM. He was recalled and thrown out of office. Not long ago someone was exposed as a fraud when he passed himself off as a retired Marine Major General. He was a retired Marine, that’s OK, but he had retired as a Gunnery Sergeant and was NEVER AN OFFICER.
One person, back at Walter Reed Hospital, was there for some illness or other. He passed himself off as combat wounded to partake in activities and goodies specifically earmarked FOR the wounded coming back from the war zone. I think he went to jail, and rightly so.
It’s many things to pretend you are a decorated war veteran, but harmless it’s NOT.
See post 24.
Do you want to know what WE used to say about your patch, back in the day?
I won’t post it unless you ask.
I REFUSE to post it unless you ask.
I won’t do it.
I JUST WON’T DO IT!
The HELL I won’t!!!
We used to refer to the horse you never rode and the line you never crossed and the background color was the reason why. But it was all good fun back then!
DC Wright
USMC Retired
Phu Bai ‘69
There are people who are receiving VA benefits by pretending to be disabled vets.
Check out Kerry's book Winter Soldier. Those guys were not in combat, and most were never in the service.
There is a guy that was the poster boy for the Democrats against Iraq. Turns out he was never in the service.
It is fraud, and they influence others.
Fraud is a crime.
I believe it was in reference to the fact that Kerry did display a “V” device on “his” Silver Star. Yes, it is the Nation’s third highest award for valor in combat. Yes, the “V” device is displayed on the Bronze Star and other, lower medals that can be awarded for NON-Combat incidents, such as life-saving or such, to indicate the award is combat-related. But I believe that it came out in the 2004 campaign that Kerry had put the “V” on the Silver Star, which just goes to show how much it all meant to him. And he never did sign the SF 180 to release his records.
Back in the Nam I used to come back to our base after a mission and I would go to the EM club. There I would hear stories of combat by guys that never left the base but were there each night. Sometimes I would hear stories that I had told except that I wasn’t in the picture - people would paint themselves in the picture.
Oh well, things don’t change just lots of people want to cash in the glory without doing the deed.
So if they have defrauded people or institutions of money by pretending to be something they aren’t, charge them with fraud. If they have harmed people in other bodily or material ways by doing what they do, charge them with the relevant crime.
Prosecuting them just for being sad walter mitty posers is born of the same oppressive logic that sees other people being prosecuted for saying and doing some of the legion of things that liberals and lefties find offensive.
Yes, its demeaning and offensive, but being a veteran doesn’t give you special rights over everyone else to not be offended by imbeciles, as every right-thinking person must tolerate on various levels as part of the price for living in a free society.
Prosecuting these people sets a dangerous precedent that gives justification for proscribing things on the basis of them being ‘offensive’ to various groups of people...
It’s not always harmless by any means, that’s why I’m guessing.
Yes, dcw I knew the difference and the faker Kerry’s Silver Star with “V” was my point.
It might be different if they weren't wearing a uniform.
A person in uniform is set apart from the average Joe.
It makes it so that those in uniform are identified with the frauds even though they don't care to.
They also become “spokesmen” for the anti war crowd and news people give them credibility that is harmful to those who are serving honorably, and can't directly challenge them.
We had some nasty things to say about the marines,too. That was then,this is now. Welcome home,and Semper Fi.
A medal is bestowed by the US military. It is a credential. A degree, of sorts. It symbolizes a personal accomplishment which deserves to be rewarded and honored.
Wearing an unearned medal is similar to claiming a college degree which has not been earned.
It is fraud, and it is a particularly offensive flavor of fraud to all of us who honor our military.
Welcome home,indeed, bro. (BTW, NO ONE who has not served has ANY business talking bad about ANY of us. That’s a FAMILY thing!)
I figured YOU would know; not everyone else does. I wish Skerry would sign the SF 180 so we can see his records!
I figured YOU would know; not everyone else does. I wish Skerry would sign the SF 180 so we can see his records!
Family is correct. Service members home on leave from Afghanistan or Iraq are not allowed to pay for their first drink at my favorite watering hole if I am present. All of the barmaids know this,and enforce it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.