Confronting stolen valor situations in person. How would you handle these kinds of situations?

Best to stay calm in situations like that. In the long run, the interwebs will make it much harder for turds to fool anyone.

This Aint Hell keeps records of the fakes, and awards prizes to the best ones:

http://thisainthell.us/blog/?page_id=30655

Rather than make a scene on the spot, make sure you get the poseur entered in this list, and in all others like it that you can find. Put their faces into the permanent record hall of turds.

I ran into an acquaintance of mine a few years ago outside a local library. He was driving a full size truck that looked to be either new or close to it. He said something along the lines of how I hadn't seen him in a while because he had joined the Air Force. My first thought was "Cool. Maybe they can change things around in his way of thinking." Alas, it was not to be. He proceeded to tell me that he had been discharged for the pre-existing condition of asthma, and he amended, "It's okay. I got an honorable discharge." Red flag number 1.

I went into the library, and he was in shortly thereafter. He proceeded to tell me about it came out that he had asthma (which he supposedly did not know about). Here's where it gets downright stupid. Apparently, he was in a flight simulator (because of course everyone in the Air Force is a pilot), and he blacked out. His co-pilot (because apparently he's seen too many movies) caught it and stopped the training program. Now I'm not familiar with asthma enough to know whether or not it causes blackouts, but I do know that a basic trainee is not going to be trained in how to fly a plane. So I started pointing out the flaws in his story. As I started pointing them out (calmly of course, like I was talking to a child) his countenance sank farther and farther until he looked like he was about to cry when I was done.

I finished by telling him this. "If you're going to lie about the military, the last person you want to lie to or around is a veteran. We will call you out on your BS."

That was the last I heard from him until he started a rumor about me about six months later. But that's another story.

Oh man. Failing the PT test in the navy ?
Lol but wrestled a bear and save d a baby from a fire?
I'd have some words for him.
This guy is some kind of special.

I had recently had this happen.. I had a guy tell me he had spent 4 yrs as a Marine.. but couldn't remember his MOS or where he did boot camp. I explained the offensive nature of his claim and that if the wrong Marine confronted him he may get a beating about the head and shoulders. I explained the great sacrifice and honor that he did not earn nor deserve and he should not ever tell someone that he served when he had not. I also informed his supervisor, that just happened to be a retired Marine Gunny with 24 yrs service.. he said that he would straighten the young man out or sign him up for the Corp.. I guess I am getting soft in my retirement..

SSG, you hit the nail on the head. When NCO's make on the spot corrections it's done in a professional manner that would educate the Soldier and let him/her know what was done was wrong. I'm sure officers would do it the same way. In this case, yelling at someone would take away the mistake the person was making and make it seem that the corrector was wrong. With everyone having smartphones these days, a short video, some pics, or even some audio can go a lot farther than alienating the public of the wrongs of a few. It's a disgrace to be a faker, it's a bigger injustice to let this get under your skin and take away your professionalism.

If you're going to call him out, you had better know your stuff. AR 670-1 certainly does NOT clearly state that if you're outside you have to have your headgear on. Also, can anyone tell me where in 670-1 it says "having your ID is part of your uniform"?

I'm all about confronting the fakers, but it seems to me like those two guys were just as much fake as the one in uniform. They're being punks, and are misrepresenting me just as much as he is.

As we are all ambassadors of the military community we need to conduct ourselves as professionals. Know your state laws on this. If there are any call the cops. I know some wall to wall counselling may make you feel better but by posting videos of these phonies getting fined or arrested will help curb this type of behavior a lot more than videos of vets getting arrested. Call them out just do it professionally.

I've never had the displeasure of coming across any of these people recently. I know they are out there and eventually I may and vi hope I keep my composure and coolly out them publicly.

I would have only cleaned the language. As a vet or in server we are all ambassadors of the military.

This is a link to the arrest of the vet. Also there is a link to the poser's facebook page.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=020_ [login to see]

Always call them out.

Playing 20 questions is one of the best ways to do it because it eliminates the need for approval and validation from others. It eliminates it because when you start asking 20 questions to which they have no answer but *should* - they begin to knock themselves. Unless they are a particular sort of stupid (which most of these people are) then they wouldn't even notice you are knocking them.

20 questions should always include a question on appearance as it relates to regulations. I would've thrown my first few questions as simple - "What unit are you currently with? - Have you ever deployed? - If so, where did you deploy to?" Then... top it off with the AR 670-1 questions of "Why the fuck is your collar up? - Were you a marine before? If not, why are you wearing marine ribbons/medals? Why are your ribbons more then 1/8th of an inch above your pocket? "etc. I think you get the drift that there are VERY few people who can actually pull off a uniform to regulation unless they have served. There will be holes in their stories and if you're around other people you can answer your own questions after you ask it to show how a real veteran/servicemember would respond to those questions.

Prime example of an idiot in the link below.