4
4
0
To be honest, I agree. Nothing is stolen. Nothing is lost. Valor is a concept, an abstract. It cannot be stolen. It cannot be traded, it cannot be created or destroyed. Pride and respect cannot be taken from you, only you can give it up. What Peter Schmuckatelli does in Ohio in no way can diminish your own internal sense of pride and respect. Intangibles like that are completely ethereal, as strong or as weak as the owner makes them.
Your thoughts?
Your thoughts?
Posted in these groups: 
Stolen Valor
Entitlements
Stolen Valor Entitlements
Posted 11 y ago
Responses: 21
0
0
0
If a dealership offers a 10% discount for veterans of OIF, you never served, or like me, got out before the current conflicts, and you claim the discount, you have actually stolen something, and I would like to see that prosecuted.
If you attend political rallies wearing medals you haven't earned and use those unearned medals to draw attention to your views, you have stolen something that is harder to quantify, and impossible to prosecute but that I would still consider a theft that needs to be called out publicly.
If you are participating in group therapy designed to help veterans deal with PTSD and you haven't really been, then you are actually stealing something far more expensive than the hypothetical discount in my first paragraph, I would like to see jail time for anyone who does this.
If you are contributing to a public perception that combat veterans are damaged and less likely to function in society, and if that perception is not accurate you are doing something worse than stealing.
BG Burkett's book Stolen Valor cites a study that looked at actual Vietnam combat veterans and made real effort to restrict their sample to real vets. They found that on average they were slightly more financially successful than the general population and suffered from mental illness at about the same rates as the overall population. I haven't looked carefully at the study, but it makes sense to me.
If you attend political rallies wearing medals you haven't earned and use those unearned medals to draw attention to your views, you have stolen something that is harder to quantify, and impossible to prosecute but that I would still consider a theft that needs to be called out publicly.
If you are participating in group therapy designed to help veterans deal with PTSD and you haven't really been, then you are actually stealing something far more expensive than the hypothetical discount in my first paragraph, I would like to see jail time for anyone who does this.
If you are contributing to a public perception that combat veterans are damaged and less likely to function in society, and if that perception is not accurate you are doing something worse than stealing.
BG Burkett's book Stolen Valor cites a study that looked at actual Vietnam combat veterans and made real effort to restrict their sample to real vets. They found that on average they were slightly more financially successful than the general population and suffered from mental illness at about the same rates as the overall population. I haven't looked carefully at the study, but it makes sense to me.
(0)
(0)
SFC Michael Hasbun
The first example is fraud, which is illegal. So agreed. The second example is misrepresentation, but I disagree that anything was stolen. The third example actually happens all the time. Oddly enough, there is an addiction to addiction groups.. Weird world huh? The fourth issue is legitimate, but that's going to take veterans as a whole to fix. I hate to say it, but I think veterans do mare more harm than posers on this one.
(1)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google