How important is it to distinguish between being "qualified" for a role, vs. actually serving in that capacity in a unit?

Prior to stating my question here, let me be clear that: (1) I didn't attend this school, and (2) I know there are far more important things in the military space to talk about. Having said that, here's my question. I have an old buddy of mine, Josh, who went to Sniper Qualification Course (or whatever it's called) in the Army. He graduated from the course, but then never actually served in a sniper role/function in any of his units after that, prior to getting out of the Army. In other words, he was sniper qualified, but never ended up being a sniper in a platoon in real life. Anyway, this caused an meat-headed debate between Josh and one of my other friends, Jacob. Jacob's stance was, "You shouldn't be telling people, especially civilians, that you were a sniper in the Army. You weren't. You completed the course. Not to take anything away from that accomplishment, but you're giving people a dishonest impression of what you did."

So, who on RP can help settle this debate? What's right and what's wrong?