I don't.
But of course, I actually have been to four back-to-back Iraq deployments and actually AM a Purple Heart recipient. I've also lost a lot of guys I know.
My kid brother just got back from his first tour to Afghanistan and is about to hit his second. My grandfather was in Korea, and though 'Nam exempt went anyway...wound up with a Purple Heart too. My other grandfather was a boat gunner at Normandy.
Bastards like this discredit the service and the United States of America. I don't have the study, but consistently service members are held by the American people to be the most trustworthy - above law enforcement, lawyers, doctors, and I think even above clergy.
Further, a lot of employers (especially fedgov) have veteran's hiring preference. Being a wounded veteran (as this POS claimed to be) awards you more points and a better chance of getting hired.
I am the last person in favor of more laws. I even think some military expenditures AND benefits are unwarranted......but really? Putting on a bunch of war medals and falsifying claims off someone else's blood?
I want you to hold the hand of a Marine not even old enough to drink....see the blood flow out of him and seemingly fill the every inch of the floor. Do this while the corpsman frantically tries to find the entry wound in the Marine's leg....as his life continues to slip away. His eyes roll, his lips to blue, the color in his face goes, his breathing slows, and somehow by the grace of God he lives.
Then after that, tell me if you could say with a straight face it's ok to put on the same uniform, a bunch of medals and FRAUD the rest of the country.
Or maybe, you could ask my Lt's mother what she thinks.....maybe she can discuss it with her son when she visits him in the cemetary; he's a Purple Heart recipient.
I have combat veterans in my immediate family; I just don’t see the rationale for a law like this. I understand the logic of people disgusted that some POS would do this; it is only the beginning of a slippery slope we don’t want to go down.
I’ll take it a step further: I don’t want anyone fabricating any experiences to me upon pain of incarceration. No more supermarket security staff or EMTs posing as cops, nothing! Where is the line drawn? Where the military draws it?
But illegal?
Maybe if they made it a tag-on multiplier for fraud cases or something, but to make it a primary offense?
As much as I may find the behavior itself despicable, I just can't support a law like this. It opens doors that are supposed to remain permanently locked.