When stolen valor shaming goes horribly wrong. Your Thoughts?

If they have ANY HONOR, they should turn themselves in to their Chain of Command. A true hero will admit when he is wrong and face the consequences.

I'm SO tired of morons like these kids making a public spectacle. Have I seen some questionable uniform items being worn? Yep. Is it my duty to go assail them? Nope. Anyone with any "time" can usually spot a fraud...and a few crooked medals don't constitute such draconian actions. Unless it's blatantly obvious...give it a rest.

As an example; My MIL is in hospice right now. I spend at least two days a week visiting her. I walk around and also talk to some of the other patients. One is an old man(91) who wears a hat with an Officers crest and Naval Aviator wings. There's nothing "right" with how they're being worn. I asked him one day if he was a pilot in the Navy. He responded "yes", I asked what aircraft he flew...I'm a history buff...he responded "I'm 91". I then realized he probably has Alzheimer or simply senile.

Was he...or wasn't he? Probably...but maybe not. NOT my place to start interrogating him to find out.

When you see it(stolen valor)...it's pretty easy to spot.

Lack there of. Calling oneself true Marines. Where is the Honor, Respect, Integrity. POS is what they are.

I saw this coming. It's sad and pathetic. If someone did that to me today it would take lots of courage to walk away.

You should always be sure of your facts before opening your pie hole!

Come on Marines you guys think you're the only one that ever wore a uniform. There has been too much of this going on lately and has to stop. We are supposed to be the professionals and we sure don't want to further damage a veteran or active duty service member who may be already damaged. Look, I'm a veteran also I love all my brothers and sisters in arms but we must use a little more common sense and tact when dealing with these situations.

It is the unfortunate reality of today that far too many take it upon themselves to correct others. The young thugs wearing marine uniforms should be prosecuted for assault and whatever the result of that court martial is should then be followed by a civil action suit for monetary damages to compensate Mr. Hughes - and to drive home the point to these thugs in marine uniforms that such actions will not be tolerated by civilian or military societies. I hope that these thugs commander(s) have them mopping floors and cleaning out grease traps at the mess hall for at least a couple of months. Thanks for your service Jack - and go to hell you thugs....your behavior shows that you'll never be Marines.

you know I am a 23 year vet. and let me tell you what, if i was wearing my awards that i was given from a war that i fought in and some snot nosed punk trying to make an example came up to me, well lets just say this retired 1SG would have a lot to say. i see this all the time with this stolen valor junk, you know what its fine to protect your lineage but lets be smart about it. talk to the person your confronting dont jump to conclusion if they are a true vet you will figure it out in minutes of conversation if they are not well you should make smart choices. this is so wrong on many levels, i am so sorry that this happened to a vet of the vietnam war, they didnt get the respect we get today, show some honor and respect to them as they need it as well as we do.......

My thought is this. If anyone decides to accuse someone of stolen valor, they had better be 100% sure what they are talking about. #2 They should NEVER place their hands on any individual as this constitutes an assault. This poor guy was treated like shit when he returned from Nam in the 70's and is just now able to show his pride in being a veteran and these individuals did this... SHAMEFUL.... when I am long retired, I am sure that uniform standards will change, I will not remember where certain items belong on the uniform. But I will still take pride in being a veteran and will most likely wear sad uniform in the public. Service members need to remember this when they are out looking for a fight. There is absolutely no cause for this type of bereavement. I have called out an impersonator, and it went like this... Where did you serve? Where did you do basic? You are lying, because that has not been a training post since WWII and you are 25 years old. Go away. That's it.

I think it's disgraceful. And usually the ones who maker a fuss are REMFs or folks trying to score cheap gotcha points. I always give my battles the benefit of the doubt unless I know for sure otherwise. I am 100% svc connected disabled and have had some odd encounters over the years and have had to produce my ID to defuse potential poop storms,more than once I take it in stride because I know who I am so some civ yahoo's opinion is meaningless, but if it came from my brothers who's fraternal bond of svc is my source of strength it would definitely hurt. We are so isolated from civs since we ended our draft that for many we have become Hollywood stereotypes. Depicted either as iconic men of honor who can do no wrong or as potential head cases that could blow up anytime and they want to touch with kid gloves. Neither is accurate and I believe it stems from cutting that cord. Recently we have seen reports of Veterans hiding their military experience when looklingh for work or being grilled by potential employers on PTSD to screen possible problems. This really goes beyond the pale. If I were their commander I would have invited the vet to an informal formation and had those knuckleheads in the front leaning rest while he called cadence at HIS cadence.
Cheers.