reminds me of a time my buddies desided it would be a good idea to say they were SEALS in Little Creek VA. Unfortuntly for them real SEALS were in the bar. They were lucky to get away with a warning
You're kidding me, right? IN Little Creek? Jesus... Ya' know, I can see people trying to be something they're not in a conversation, especially if they got a quick taste of it, but holy fuck man. Right IN their hornets nest?? That's like goin' to a bar in Feyettenam and saying you're SF. You didn't think you were gonna get called out? You didn't think for ONE SECOND, that if you were going to try and pull something like that off in an area like that, you wouldn't have done a casual stroll around the pub, and look for a few blokes sitting together that were maybe a few inches taller than the rest, with big watches, non high & tight hair cuts, big arms/necks, and bulges on their right hips? You know, the guys who think they're blending in but they're really not? lol.
Posers. I can't stand 'em. I'm not sure if it's the actual faking part of it I'm pissed about. I think it's partly because of the friends I have lost while doing it, and because they didn't think out their plan too much before they stepped off on azimuth. Do a little research before trying to be something you're not, because you may have just claimed to be part of a really tight fraternity, with super high esprit de corps and not known it.
TurboJosh, I'm going to let you in on a little secret, so that you can see how easy it is to spot a faker... Here's a few examples of how small the combat arms section is of the U.S. Army. And this is just one 1/4 of it. There's of course the Infantry, the Cav, Tankers, and Arty. The part we're interested with is the first quarter; the most important quarter.
(a little bias here) Inside the infantry, (and when I mean infantry, I mean straight leg infantry units, and everything else above it, like the Rangers, SF, Delta, LRRPs, all Airborne infantry style units) it's a smaller world than you think. Even though there's like 50,000 infantry guys out there, stationed all over this planet, it's still a smaller world than you think.
One day, I'm sitting in the team room, and this guy shows up. Just came in from 1st bat. We got to talking, and I find out we went to high school together 11 years earlier. I was a grade or two above him, but nonetheless we walked right next to each other and never realized it...
In one of my units, I was talking to a guy from 1st bat. I was talking about an NCO I had in Germany years earlier. He was a real hard charger. Come to find out, this 1st bat guy I'm talking to knows him. I served with him in Germany in 94 and my buddy served with him in 1st in '95. Small world.
I PCS two units from that one, and here's another NCO from 1st bat with me, talking about a cool experience he had a few years back. So he describes a field maneuver in which him and a few other Rangers got injured (simulated), and were in a little mini ccp waitin' on extract. They were both laying on the ground looking at the stars together. So the one guy starts naming off constellations, and the other guy is like yea man, that is that constellation, you're pretty good. The other guy goes "I had a good astronomy teacher." and he asks "Who's that?" I had Mr. Quigley. The other guy goes "Quigley?" I had a Mr. Quigley too! What high school. The other guy says Cannon High. Those two guys had the same astronomy teacher, but one year apart. So I ask this 1st bat NCO who is it, and he goes "so and so". No shit. That's the same guy I just described in my first example, from 6 years ago lol. We ALL went to high school together, and met in different units at different times.
One day, after shortly PCS'ing into this other unit, I walk in the platoon room to see my old buddy from one unit ago sitting there talking to my platoon sergeant. I was like WTF are YOU doing here. He says your platoon sergeant was my commo sgt back in our old group. No shit lol. THEN he says, you know our old First Sergeant? He was our team sergeant in that same group. REAL small world.
The combat arms section of the military is just too small, and too technical to fake. It's dam near impossible. And even if you're really polished in your lies, there's ALWAYS someone who could verify with a few phone calls... Once you get into the hard charging units, (as far as the armys concerned e.g. the rakkasans, the 82nd, the regiment, lrrps, sf, delta) you NEVER leave. You just keep on puttin in for other units in the loop, but you never leave. The only time you actually leave the loop, is if you become injured, and they can't find an instructor billet for you somewhere. Then of course you PCS into a specific unit where old fire pissers go to die, but I won't say that unit lol. They're never really any fun lol. But I'll be god damned if I didn't see more of my guys at my last unit lol.
Josh, the things you've said never added up. Ever. I'd have been ok had you not said you were a Ranger. But once I seen that, my ears perked up. It was obvious to me that you were a bullshitter, when you started to confuse a platoon sergeant with a first sergeant. If you said that as a private, or a joe with under 2 years in, I would have MAYBE let it slide. But you said you were an RI. No way. Because at that point you would have had several years in. No way someone like that says that there's a diamond in E7 rank.... No way. That's just not a mistake an RI would make man. You're a pogue.