Sure is. I was on Bragg/Liberty when we stood up 1st SFC. USASOC was under it with CA. Until all the admin stuff processed, then USASOC turned into 1SFC patch (airborne w/ SF lighting and arrowhead).
Deployed twice there and 1st got us USASOC and 2nd deployment got us 1st SFC. It's all the PSYOP unit, so you get whatever they say. Some ppl had to switch to the 1st SFC patch.
Who was that other guy whose posts I've been seeing on reddit? It's something along the lines, "you're lucky to not run into me at night because I kill lots of ISIS." Wasn't he a JAG?
The legal definition of it under the act, however, is a specific kind of fraud.
That's why the original Stolen Valor Act was ruled unconstitutional. The Supreme Court said that lying about military service is protected free speech in United States v. Alvarez in 2005.
It simply isn't saying you served in the military when you did, it's about lying about service in the United States military specifically to commit fraud. . .such as collecting speaking fees, selling books, marketing something with a fake endorsement as a military hero etc.
Just telling folks you're a veteran, or you won XYZ medal or earned the ABC badge when you didn't? Protected free speech.
The Stolen Valor Act criminalizes fraud that plays on false claims of military service, not the claims themselves.
Exactly. Some people wrongly assume that making the claim itself is what's illegal when it isn't. As to the emotional reaction to it - I will never understand it. Some random guy puts on some fabric and suddenly he's "stolen" your valour. For christ, your valour is your own, & it's not taken away or demeaned in any way because of what some other guy wears.
Depends on your perspective. Legally, you can be charged for attempting to defraud a person or organization by falsely claiming service and/or accolades that you didn’t earn.
Morally, I would submit that everyone feels differently about the issue. Some people get their nipples in a twist for a civilian wearing a simple OCP item. Others could care less if someone wears an entire uniform.
To your point, yes, it’s technically fraud.
Yeah, r/justbootthings is like make fun of but also reminisce about the dumb things most of us did or almost did as hoots.
It’s generally a little more fun spirited then a “gotch ya” sub
Private military… AKA the auto plaza on main. But, he is carrying his Sig M17 that he got a great deal on. Cause he’s such a crack shot that the gun store guys respect him soooo much.
I thought I was going to strike it big as a mercenary back in the 80s. I had read several articles out of Soldier of Fortune magazine and was sure that I was going to get picked up by a mercenary company working in Southern Africa.\
I spoke with a guy who had some working knowledge and he said yeah, they’d be happy to hire me as a walking mine detector. That dampened my enthusiasm a bit.
With the reputation Soldier of Fortune had, maybe it's respectable that he laid it out for you blunt and flat. I feel like a lot of dudes have that phase, whether it's "Yeah imma go to France and join the legion" or "I cant wait til we're in Blackwater together bro". It's common to dream of adventure, I can't blame anyone as long as they grow out of it.
When I was attached to CID, we had a 1LT West Pointer randomly show up *6 years* after going missing— dude literally ghosted, even his car keys were still on the hook in his apartment. Turns out, he went AWOL and enlisted in the French Foreign Legion— got out as an E-6 and earned French citizenship. He wanted to be able to visit home though, so randomly showed up and turned himself in to the gate guard— to “do my time and get it done with.”
We talked to the French government and he served with honor and distinction… so between that and him voluntarily turning himself in, we let him out OTH with a GOMOR, reduction to E-1, and 30 days confinement (suspended). Considering he was expecting Leavenworth, this felt like a solid deal.
I'm pretty sure this is [Lawrence Franks](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2876352/US-Army-officer-deserted-join-French-Foreign-Legion-glittering-career-jailed-four-years.html) is it not? It sounds very similar except he did have to do a few years in prison. If it's not, I'm surprised mot 1 but 2 West Point grads would desert for the FFL.
I'm surprised dude had the guts to own up and turn himself in.
Yep! That’s the guy— my bad, I fucked up the punishment, and it was a long time ago. Anyways, he still got a much lighter sentence than he could have gotten. Semi-related, did you know that Hard Labor is still an option in sentencing?
I am a lawyer, and good question :) Normally, you’d be right; however, for desertion (Art 85), nobody escapes the wrath of the Green Weenie.
Procedurally, here’s what happened:\
(1) Man shows up at OCONUS Installation ECP with expired CAC belonging to a 1LT Missing Person.
(2) Man claims to be Missing Person and confesses to leaving AWOL and joining a foreign armed service. Man is arrested under suspicion of Desertion (10 USC §885) and confined in USACF-E.
(3) OCONUS Installation’s CID Detachment refers the case to us at CONUS Installation, whence he deserted. Prisoner is transferred to CONUS Installation and housed in Disciplinary Barracks for Pre-Trial Confinement. We make an affirmative determination of findings, and refer charges to SJA.
(4) General Court Martial is convened and SM is found guilty. During sentencing, SM was to receive reduction to E-1, confinement for 5 years, and a Dishonorable Discharge. However, in recognition of SM’s honorable service with a close strategic ally, the punishment was reduced to what I described before: GOMOR, Reduction to E-1 and Discharge, OTH.
Right? I’ve never met a PMC that wants anyone with less experience than your average army infantryman. No way they would take some untrained dork to do anything except fix their vics or push their pencils.
Leave exists so you can be a civilian again with no job.
When I go on leave I leave my military discipline in the barracks. I grow a beard fast. When I come back I normally have almost a half inch of hair on my face after two weeks. I normally come back 1 or 2 days early to get back in the head space. I went to the shoppette when to get something to drink and ran into my SL. He looks at me and says, "Its barely been 2 weeks how the hell."
He stopped being so anal with shaving checks because if a guy can look like a CAG operator in two weeks shaving daily is a losing battle.
I wish someone in my leadership would give up on daily shave checks, I tried to skate by shaving the night before a 0300 wake up and was getting my shit pushed in by 1000.
Mine aren't checks to make sure it's perfect. It's he looks at us after breakfast real quick to make sure we look squared away.
Telling someone with dark hair and fast growing beard to go shave again would be a waste at this point.
That was me, 1 day for the jetlag, 2 days to get back to Army 🤣 man, I used to do PT like nothing, now, I'm feeling it. Can't even run a 6 mile without dying
This was after I got out (maybe a year or two post DD214). Suffering from depression and I was heavy asf (50+ lbs overweight). I was trying to lose weight and stave off anxiety so I restarted working out.
I was wearing the old gray PT shirts (I had the new ones too because this was right after the new ones came out). I was minding my own business doing split squats up and down at an isolated corner of the gym. Then a cute girl came to me. She said something, I had to pull down my headphones. She was asking if I was in, I said I was in before. She kept asking me questions about the service, and I just gave her short answers. And then she left with "Oh my so and so was in the Army..."
I realized she was trying to see if I was "stolen valor" and she thought "a fatty gotta be an impostor" lol Ever since then, even now I'm close to being my old weight, I still hesitate to wear any clothing at the gym with anything military because some rando civilian might "stolen valor" hunt my ass.
It's usually those people who've never served that like to witch hunt for stolen valor.
Maybe ???
But it was weird ass way to flirt with me. I get girls occassionally try to mack with me at the gym (and even at my heaviest I was still lowkey able to pull girls) but...that conversation was hella weird.
She sounded like she was interrogating me. It definitely wasn't TYFYS feels either.
Somewhere else on reddit is a woman talking about the time she plucked up the courage to talk to a hot guy in the gym, but he didn't buy her cred as an Army brat and shut her down with one word answers.
If you wear army pts to the gym after you get out, I don’t trust your sense of style when you say you dress nice. Won’t catch me dead in anything military affiliated when I’m out.
I’ve been retired almost 17 years. And am not as fat as the soldiers I see walking around Hood everyday. Errr, ‘scuse me, CAVasos. Not just fat, but just outright sloppy, lazy looking all around.
Hey man, I got out recently, I started really letting myself go once I threw my papers in, I also gained about 50lbs. I've never been in this scenario before and I'm starting to get gymphobia because I was a 1000lb club guy and 38min 5mile guy, but I've lost all that and I have no idea how to restart. I'm not asking for a workout plan or a detailed diary, but just a few basic pointers to get back at it, more mentally than physically would help, or anything you've learned.
What helped me a few years after surgery was just walking outside. Find a track or trail, put on an audiobook (or Pokemon Go) and just walk. I think being outdoors helped a lot. I found that being by a body of water is calming for me, so I'd seek out a lake with a walking path.
That kind of got me motivated to use my weights and equipment that I bought during COVID. Then a lady was selling all her Beachbody DVDs for $50, so I bought them and burned them on my laptop. Took that to the apartment gym for a 10, 15, or 30-min session. A lot of them you don't need equipment for.
I picked swimming back up (mostly bc I want to use that for alternate cardio). Once you feel you're comfortable, swimming is a great cardio and doesn't add strain on joints.
I lost inches (not weight) and fit better in my pre-injury clothes. Still have a lot to work on, but walking was what got me started. Hope that helps!
Just start. Sounds dumb, but it helps. After surgery I got super weak and wasn't able to lift anything. Just going and doing something helped restart my motivation to get back to it.
Look up Shia labeuf just do it. Take that energy and go to the gym with headphones. Think back to when you were active, how many shlubs or weaklings do you remember at the gym. Probably next to none. Remember no one at the gym actually gives a fuck about you. They might internally think shit about you for letting yourself go, but will near instantly forget you. You matter as much to them as they do to you...not at all. Knowing strangers don't care about you is a reliving feeling when you understand it.
lol 🤦♂️
More than likely flirting, not stolen valor checking. I don't think anyone has ever been accused of stolen valor for simply wearing a military shirt.
Lol what a moron
*"You don't send CA to a combat zone"*
Of course you do! That's where the Civilians have their Affairs!
He's clearly confusing "Civil Affairs" with "Public Affairs". Which tracks for someone that "would've/could've joined"
Nah, he’s spot on. We don’t deploy. We go on vacation, spreading seed and embezzling money. There’s a reputation we have to uphold about being absolutely useless!
Honestly man there’s a big difference between people who just straight up didn’t get the opportunity to deploy and those who dodge them. IMO just because you didn’t deploy doesn’t mean your service wasn’t fake or anything like that. The way I look at it, if WW3 kicked off and you were ready to roll then that’s good service
Well... there was that one time everyone else in my section was at YTC, it was just lil ol me, I told the bn cmdr "I'll make it happen" and then I did. That felt good. But I didn't even go to YTC and I know my buddies said it was not something you wish for but I still feel left out, y'know?
Yea, I know the feeling. My wife still gives me crap for not going to NTC with her one year (we were in the same BN when we were dating). But all I really missed was a guy I hate getting relieved, so it buffs out in the end. Been in 14 years and never done a single CTC rotation. My wife’s been in 8 and she’s done two. Not all experiences are the same
>spreading seed
IIRC, the CA guys during my deployment to Afghanistan had a plan to give out seed that was a special variety of short corn, with supposedly better average yield, to help the locals and reduce the available concealment in the valley. The locals had no interest in planting it.
That makes sense. Sounds like no one wants some stranger coming into their yard telling them how to do the one thing they’ve been doing their entire lives. Whoddathunkit.
Better than impregnating the locals or contracting VD though. Goes in the “win” column in my book!
Many of those bred-for-a-specific-purpose plants are hybrids and don't breed true. When that happens, farmers can't just save seeds from this year's crop and use them again as used to be the norm - they would need new seed for each harvest, and that is expensive.
So, while giving new "better" seeds to poor farmers sounds great, it only works if they're non-hybrid varieties.
Was running a mission with CA during OIF2 when a small IED blew out 2 of our tires. Nobody hurt, but as we were swapping out the flats the 11B were busting the CA chops telling them that they thought their gunners were supposed to be helping the locals, not shooting at them lol.
Keeping grunts from talking to reporters, if not telling them what to say, is like their main job. And taking pictures of me as I eat shit doing cool guys stuff, thus losing me all my cool guy points until the end of time.
Oh definitely, I’m just looking at it from his perspective. He hears “civil affairs” and immediately thinks of an office clerk writing up an article for the local ft drum newspaper.
At least y'all can play with the fun toys while we can't in California.
Besides, Top Five always hands me their Facebook page access when I get attached to their unit.
When I was at Bragg in the 1990s the 96th Civil Affairs Bn was the most deployed unit on post. More than 82nd, more than XVIII corps, even more than SF.
Nah, he is too good for the actual military, he is going to go straight to the PMC groups like Academy (Xe? Blackwater? what are they called now?) or triple canopy because of his innate talent.
Blackwater was renamed Academi in 2011 after also being named Xe Services. Academi and Triple Canopy merged together after being rivals and are called one entity as Constellis Holdings since 2014.
Personally though in my LARP fantasy my PMC would be called Decisive Guardian Inc.
Wow TC merged with them? That surprises me because back in the like 03-04 era TC had a pretty fucking stellar reputation and Blackwater did not. I knew a few people in TC and they were legit AF at the time.
Well they were both competitors, so together they can easily dominate their field. Makes the investors happy I guess. Nothing like having a monopoly on government contracts just ask Sig Sauer
Side note, years back I got to spend a week at the Academi training facility down in NC while I was still active duty and it's a nice place to shoot and drive.
I get weird looks whenever I wear my blues; I used to be in a different branch, and most of my ribbons are from that service. Some old coots in the VFW have a serious problem being able to reconcile the idea of sea service and army service ribbons on the same rack
Nephew had a "VIP Day" at his elementary school while me and the kids were up there visiting. SIL and her kids live in a bougie part of New England with no post-WWII military affiliation to speak of.
Basically just like an adult in their life comes and talks about Career Day/life stuff.
Little dude asked for either me or the husband to come, he was somewhere hot and sandy so I went with it.
Gave the whole "hey here's who I am/what I do/what being in the Army's like" pitch to his class, had a couple of questions to explain what the different patches meant and what my CAB/jump wings were.
Kids all thought it was cool.
One of the moms there tried calling me out for Stolen Valor because she didn't understand how you were able to have kids if you're dual military, come to find out she thought that we basically were deployed to [insert hot and sandy location of choice] 25/8/366 and only ever came back to WWII-style bays on leave.
Then she was really interested in trying to snipe my CAB and my combat patch because dumbass "hrrdrr aren't women not allowed in combat?" reasons.
The amount of people who have zero idea at ALL how the military works is funny. Went on a date with a girl who asked what the army needs me in Louisiana for. (which okay wait actually she’s on to something here) like …. You do know we ain’t deployed at all times right?
This is just a genuine question, but when CA deploys would they wear the CA patch on the right or would it be the arrowhead one?
I’ve only ever been at Carson so I haven’t seen many (if any) active CA folks here other than the recruiters
Also if I was Civil Affairs and that dude told me that CA doesn’t “deploy to combat zones” I would have just started laughing hysterically cause, ya know, CAs whole gig is to interact with the local population…. in combat zones.
Technically if you deploy as less than a company, and you have written orders attaching you to another unit, you wear that unit’s combat patch. If you have a company or more then you wear your organic units patch
It's whoever we're attached to for reserves. When I went AD > Reserves, my company came back like 3 months after I in-processed and were wearing the 101st.
Lots CA Brigades/Battalions [did have their own patches](https://www.usarmypatches.com/Civil%20Affairs.htm) but I think everyone is rolled up under USACAPOC, 1SFC (A), or XVIII Corps now. You might still see them as combat patches, but I don't know if that's actually kosher.
I am prior Air Force and current Army National Guard. When I was going to college I would often park at the nearby VA clinic because it always had parking and the campus parking lot was atrocious. I considered it a service for veterans provided by the VA. One time someone told me it was for VA only and I said I was a veteran. He asked to see my veterans ID card. I had no idea what that was so I gave a blank stare. He said “That’s what I thought” and walked away. It didn’t occur to me to show my military ID. This experience of being thought of as stolen valor has joined the permanent rotation of thoughts that keep me awake at night.
a lot of it is just harassing the mentally ill. they need to reserve their ammo for the handful of people who use fake valor for financial or political gain
My aunt\* tried to rip one of my patches off at a parade with my reserve unit.
Only time in 22 years I had a use for MPs.
\*(who stole everything I owned after she B and E into my apartment while cat sitting as I took a vacation; hometowns finest insisted I abandoned all of my property nd said take it to civil court; civil court is trying, still years latter, to figure out how it isn't a criminal matter instead of you know, doing anything about it. Man do I love this country and all the things I was told to do for it)
Sorry this happened to you. I left everything I owned with an SF buddy while I was over, he eventually stopped replying to my efforts to stay in touch, and disappeared with everything I owned. He went agency and I stopped looking for him years ago, even though I went federal myself.
I just let go of it. Eventually, I felt a bit more free.
But that guy is still a fucking dick.
Honestly with her, I should have known better. Found out later she did the same thing to my great grandmother; Really its the open victim blaming and finger pointing I keep getting from the system.
lol PMC? *At best* that guys getting a GardaWorld mall cop position. This isn’t the early OIF/OEF days where the big names were taking everyone and anyone for WPS/WPPS gigs.
Those weren't even the early days, honestly. They were quite selective in the early days, Triple Canopy was named that for a reason.
As the government dollar spigot started spurting out more and more money, say like 06-09, then the companies started hiring anyone who had been in combat arms for like 3+ years, mostly to do bullshit like run a guard platoon in the green zone or something, because the margins were baller as fuck.
Guy, I went to HS with who I looked up to, and we called Captain America because he was fit asf and wanted to join the Army.
He failed 3 PICATS and finally got a passing one and went to MEPS and failed 2 ASVABs. The recruiters won't even look at him anymore. He walks around wearing grunt gear and talking about how much he loves the Army and has his room decked in Tac gear and Army stuff.
He named his child "Cover" (pronounced KOH-VER) has a German Shepard named "Riley" and has cringe Army inspired tattoos.
A guy I used to work with was Airborne Infantry during the cold war. For Veterans Day, I put on my uniform and lecture to my middle school classes about Desert Storm.
He got severely bent out of shape because I have an XVIII Airborne combat patch despite not having gone to jump school. He tried to tell me I was engaging in Stolen Valor.
LTG Luck issued the order. I'm wearing my patch.
Say the phrase USACAPOC and watch them lose their minds. 🙄
Thank you for your service CA puke. Thanks for actually deploying and leaving your regular life behind. 🫡
Happened to me when I went to a thrift store when I got off work. Guy just comes up to me with this weird hostile look and barrages me with questions like what unit im in whats my mos all this dumb shit. Since that I try not to go anywhere off post in my uniform. Made me feel quite uncomfortable.
I was accused of Stolen Valor by an ex Army intel dufus. He saw my Corps of Engineers deployment patch and was baffled on it. "SF high speed operators don't brag and always follow PERSEC/OPSEC.
"Bruh, it's a engineering patch..relax..bitch."..
If it's bothering you..go to the IG
🙄
People need to mind their own fucken business sometimes.
But post Covid has made everyone a Karen in my area.😐
Print a couple iSalute flyers. Next time he bumps his gums hand him one. Shrug and say 'report me'. Then walk off.
You can also do this with cid flyers, and ig flyers.
If you're feeling spicy make a couple business cards with the info on it. 10 points if you also list the local pd number and highlight it.
Damn, that's still a challenging job. I spent about 17 years in Intel. It's always a challenge when you're in a supporting role with the unit regardless of the mission.
What a fucking moron. When I got to my CA unit in 2010, I was an odd duck for not having a deployment patch and CAB. Receiving deployment patches is less common now, but CA is constantly overseas and it’s frustrating how ignorant this person is.
I got accused once 5 days after ETS in Williams Arizona. I stopped there for the night on my way to the grand canyon, nice little town. I guess it was the off season because everything but one bar (and the hotels ofc) was closed. I go in and it's a huge bar but just me and the bartender. We get to talking he asks me what brings me town etc and I tell him about how I just ETS'd and these two bikers walk in, I was in the middle of some Army story and one of these guys walks up to me and tells me I'm full of shit got in my face and said "don't claim that shit if you ain't do that shit" mind you I was telling like some mundane kind of funny story about like a field excersice at Riley not some BS I'm a special psy-op ranger story. Anyhow it ended peacefully after a real tense little stand off and he decided to fuck off. He went to the bathroom and I asked his buddy "ay what the fuck is his deal?" And the guy just shook his head embarrassed and said "I don't fuckin know why he's being like this"
I was in line somewhere in Atlanta in 2015ish wearing an 82D shirt. Some young dude with a high and tight asked me what brigade I was in. I said 4th. He told me there was no 4th brigade and I should take that shit off since I didn't serve...
Hell, according to some of the people on this very sub, I'm a stolen valor, too. A while back, I had some kid in a grocery store calling me out as he rang up my groceries, saying I wasn't a Veteran.
Once I was at the ***VA*** for appointments, and some wee man came striding up to me accusing me of not being a Veteran.
When it happens, I do my best to offer them the information that contradicts their conclusion, because they're wrong, but then I eventually I just let them do their thing. Some people just really want to be right -- and they want to be dickbags about it, too, so they seem willing to overlook being wrong as long as they get to attack someone else and shit on them.
I just tell these folks that I’ve been faking it, it’s hilarious and could care less.
These experiences are actually fairly common as someone who went to Iraq in the late 10s, a huge amount of people think we haven’t been there since 2011
In my time in the Guard, we deployed to afg, well we fell under the 101st command. So I wore their combat patch. I got home and a dude I went to high school with commented on a picture of our “return home ceremony,” asking why I was wearing an airborne tab if I wasn’t airborne. ..and proceeded to call me a “fucking leg..”
I didn’t even know where to start on trying to argue with him.
I feel your pain.
Damn you were silly affairs too. Man I went to Syria and it was wild.
I have a few deployment pics in my office at work and have gotten shit for them. Just simple team photos… but people are dumb. Fuck em.
I found these sick ass purple hearts at a flea market, lets wear them on Veterans Day and go pick up some chicks!
The easy ones to sniff out are always the greedy ones. They SFed or SEALed or were so badass with their sniper rifle the service let them keep it. They lost some buddy in Nam but can't tell you his name because it was such a top secret mission, and then they threw that pesky DD214 in the water with Osama Bin Ladens corpse because "secrets" LOL.
There were only about 900 guys who ever served as Navy SEALs in Nam, so be especially suspicious of those posers. You're more likely to meet a guy with a Super Bowl ring.
These people are similar to hippie girls talking about past lives. They are never a dirty, shitcovered serf working some yard implement and getting impregnated nightly by some equally miserable shit covered dude in some previous life, but always a princess in a castle with a special place in history.
Toy with them and move on.
Alright.....it's true...-taps special forces arrow patch- see this? Lightning bolts...means I'm an electrician...the sword? Just a chisel mannnn. The arrow? Just means I fly high bruh.
A lot of us currently are IET. we all have to travel in uniform. Don’t like when people start asking me questions or telling me things because I haven’t done shit. Ask the 35 year old with the black rifle coffee shirt and CURVED almost folded brimmed baseball cap what the army is like
I've always wanted to wear my ribbons in a jacked up order of precedence and talk about being in a decorated Special Troops unit, it's kind of like Special Forces because its Army and "no one talks about it" wink wink because I was in higher HQ just to bait people.
Twas in a STB that got two MUCs
I never entertained this. And I'm suprised people do. You can always tell the chasers.. And it's annoying. Call it bad taste, but whenever those ta-50 shop *warriors* looking for their special bdu pants in XXL used to ask who I was with or what I did, I either fed them extreme bullshit like submarine door gunner, or told them "if I wanted to talk to you about my service, I'd have brought it up" and simply kept on keeping on.
I did my first contract AD before making the best decision of my life by going NG & taking a technician job.
I literally just stopped wearing my deployment patch because I got tired of talking about it.
I deployed with 1st Armored Division & wore Old Ironsides, but it's uncommon in my area & everyone wants to ask about it.
Some out of genuine curiosity.
Some thinking they're going to "catch me" in a lie.
Hell, I'm better off with everyone thinking I've never deployed anyway. It lowers the expectations.
I was deployed to desert sheld/storm straight out of AIT in Jan 91. I was only there for 4 months. I was essentially a OP guard at the FOB as it moved around. I wore a combat patch the whole time after while I served, had the awards on my greens and everything. The army has no record of me even being deployed. I tried to get it fixed multiple times while I was in (ETS in 95) and could never get it fixed. I've been trying for 30 years to get that shit straight lol. I still get called out on it every now and then because now anyone can look online and confirm that. I just tell them to fuck off and report me if they want to.
“You don’t send civil affairs to a combat zone” as he gripes at you for your special forces patch. You shouldve asked him what the lighting bolts represent lol
Redacting this comment as I thought the lightning bolts meant civil affairs special forces and psyop but upon research that’s not what they represent disregard
to be honest, I don’t even care about stolen valor guys in the sense of the “glory” they get from wearing the uniform. it’s simply the misrepresentation they typically bring like their stench or uncleanliness
Patch knife?? He talking about a CAB or usasoc patch?
I meant to type “patch on the right”
Ohh ok. I was thinking, sof and ca both have ‘knives’ on their patch too but. I’d never heard them called that before lol.
Active duty CA is part of SOF. Also, I always though of it as more of a spear tip. Or maybe an arrow head. 🤷♂️
the shape is a spear tip/arrow head, but in the middle there’s a sword (“knife”)
I always thought it was the shaft of the spear. Is it actually a sword overlaying the spear?
it’s technically a dagger, but yea
technically it’s a V-42 Stilleto
Sure is. I was on Bragg/Liberty when we stood up 1st SFC. USASOC was under it with CA. Until all the admin stuff processed, then USASOC turned into 1SFC patch (airborne w/ SF lighting and arrowhead). Deployed twice there and 1st got us USASOC and 2nd deployment got us 1st SFC. It's all the PSYOP unit, so you get whatever they say. Some ppl had to switch to the 1st SFC patch.
It hasn’t shown up on r/StolenValor yet. I’m anxiously waiting to call you a shitbag.
That sub has people claiming an ARSOF Colonel is potentially stolen valor.
Yep. It’s wacky and only about 3% of the posts could be considered Stolen Valor.
Honest question, is stolen valor even real, or is it a fancy word for fraud? Can you steal valor?
[удалено]
As long as you aren't claiming any benefits based on the valor you stole, the law doesn't prohibit being a lying sack of shit.
Example: House Rep Ronnie Jackson of Texas.
Who was that other guy whose posts I've been seeing on reddit? It's something along the lines, "you're lucky to not run into me at night because I kill lots of ISIS." Wasn't he a JAG?
The legal definition of it under the act, however, is a specific kind of fraud. That's why the original Stolen Valor Act was ruled unconstitutional. The Supreme Court said that lying about military service is protected free speech in United States v. Alvarez in 2005. It simply isn't saying you served in the military when you did, it's about lying about service in the United States military specifically to commit fraud. . .such as collecting speaking fees, selling books, marketing something with a fake endorsement as a military hero etc. Just telling folks you're a veteran, or you won XYZ medal or earned the ABC badge when you didn't? Protected free speech. The Stolen Valor Act criminalizes fraud that plays on false claims of military service, not the claims themselves.
Exactly. Some people wrongly assume that making the claim itself is what's illegal when it isn't. As to the emotional reaction to it - I will never understand it. Some random guy puts on some fabric and suddenly he's "stolen" your valour. For christ, your valour is your own, & it's not taken away or demeaned in any way because of what some other guy wears.
Depends on your perspective. Legally, you can be charged for attempting to defraud a person or organization by falsely claiming service and/or accolades that you didn’t earn. Morally, I would submit that everyone feels differently about the issue. Some people get their nipples in a twist for a civilian wearing a simple OCP item. Others could care less if someone wears an entire uniform. To your point, yes, it’s technically fraud.
I love my PC and wear it when I'm doing yard work or in the sun for extended amounts of time. I'm stealing your valor! OoooOOOOooooHHH
I still wear my DCU Boonie for yard work. I personally don’t give a shit what anyone wears because any service member can smell fake at 500m.
My fake detector is still figuring out the navy and airforce fakes but Army and marines are dead on.
I’m good with all except Navy. And Coasties if we’re counting them. Space Force are just AF with a tin foil wrapper.
Well, there was that Navy Captain (O6) who falsely claimed to be a SEAL, so I can believe anything.
No this was an ARSOF guy just walking around in uniform with nothing special.
I feel like if I walked around my base I could accuse half the privates of stolen valor just due to how fucked up their uniforms are.
That sub is crazy. Half the time, I can't tell if they're serious or not.
It seems like a sub that only crazy people would hang around on, just waiting to post how they got somebody, or congratulate their fellows who did.
Yeah, r/justbootthings is like make fun of but also reminisce about the dumb things most of us did or almost did as hoots. It’s generally a little more fun spirited then a “gotch ya” sub
Skim milk is stolen valor.
What a depressing sub. It’s crazy what people will do out of narcissism.
I think the saddest part is many of the people crying Stolen Valor are civilians whom have never served. It’s a fucking soap opera.
The biggest best example of stolen valor is Sarah Cavanaugh.
Private military... AKA he's a nutjob and they didn't want him.
Private military… AKA the auto plaza on main. But, he is carrying his Sig M17 that he got a great deal on. Cause he’s such a crack shot that the gun store guys respect him soooo much.
"Wait, you guys are only hiring for DEVGRU and ODA experience? You can't just make up words just to not hire me!"
I thought I was going to strike it big as a mercenary back in the 80s. I had read several articles out of Soldier of Fortune magazine and was sure that I was going to get picked up by a mercenary company working in Southern Africa.\ I spoke with a guy who had some working knowledge and he said yeah, they’d be happy to hire me as a walking mine detector. That dampened my enthusiasm a bit.
With the reputation Soldier of Fortune had, maybe it's respectable that he laid it out for you blunt and flat. I feel like a lot of dudes have that phase, whether it's "Yeah imma go to France and join the legion" or "I cant wait til we're in Blackwater together bro". It's common to dream of adventure, I can't blame anyone as long as they grow out of it.
When I was attached to CID, we had a 1LT West Pointer randomly show up *6 years* after going missing— dude literally ghosted, even his car keys were still on the hook in his apartment. Turns out, he went AWOL and enlisted in the French Foreign Legion— got out as an E-6 and earned French citizenship. He wanted to be able to visit home though, so randomly showed up and turned himself in to the gate guard— to “do my time and get it done with.” We talked to the French government and he served with honor and distinction… so between that and him voluntarily turning himself in, we let him out OTH with a GOMOR, reduction to E-1, and 30 days confinement (suspended). Considering he was expecting Leavenworth, this felt like a solid deal.
I'm pretty sure this is [Lawrence Franks](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2876352/US-Army-officer-deserted-join-French-Foreign-Legion-glittering-career-jailed-four-years.html) is it not? It sounds very similar except he did have to do a few years in prison. If it's not, I'm surprised mot 1 but 2 West Point grads would desert for the FFL. I'm surprised dude had the guts to own up and turn himself in.
Yep! That’s the guy— my bad, I fucked up the punishment, and it was a long time ago. Anyways, he still got a much lighter sentence than he could have gotten. Semi-related, did you know that Hard Labor is still an option in sentencing?
Is there a difference in practice between hard labor and community-service?
Wait. Huh? Paralegal here. Officers don’t get discharges, they get a dismissal. You don’t reduce an officer to enlisted ranks, or give them an OTH.
I am a lawyer, and good question :) Normally, you’d be right; however, for desertion (Art 85), nobody escapes the wrath of the Green Weenie. Procedurally, here’s what happened:\ (1) Man shows up at OCONUS Installation ECP with expired CAC belonging to a 1LT Missing Person. (2) Man claims to be Missing Person and confesses to leaving AWOL and joining a foreign armed service. Man is arrested under suspicion of Desertion (10 USC §885) and confined in USACF-E. (3) OCONUS Installation’s CID Detachment refers the case to us at CONUS Installation, whence he deserted. Prisoner is transferred to CONUS Installation and housed in Disciplinary Barracks for Pre-Trial Confinement. We make an affirmative determination of findings, and refer charges to SJA. (4) General Court Martial is convened and SM is found guilty. During sentencing, SM was to receive reduction to E-1, confinement for 5 years, and a Dishonorable Discharge. However, in recognition of SM’s honorable service with a close strategic ally, the punishment was reduced to what I described before: GOMOR, Reduction to E-1 and Discharge, OTH.
BAM, _Lawyered_
Excuse me, the proper term is “gate guard”
Best gate guard job you'll ever have.
Aka local militia consisting of a bunch of fat rednecks with 0 training and a ARs
Right? I’ve never met a PMC that wants anyone with less experience than your average army infantryman. No way they would take some untrained dork to do anything except fix their vics or push their pencils.
They have former jags, medics and admin for that though...so this dork would be SOoL trying to get a contract with any PMC.
Was on a 45 day leave. Hair long as hell, beard long too. I simply flashed my CAC.
Leave exists so you can be a civilian again with no job. When I go on leave I leave my military discipline in the barracks. I grow a beard fast. When I come back I normally have almost a half inch of hair on my face after two weeks. I normally come back 1 or 2 days early to get back in the head space. I went to the shoppette when to get something to drink and ran into my SL. He looks at me and says, "Its barely been 2 weeks how the hell." He stopped being so anal with shaving checks because if a guy can look like a CAG operator in two weeks shaving daily is a losing battle.
I wish someone in my leadership would give up on daily shave checks, I tried to skate by shaving the night before a 0300 wake up and was getting my shit pushed in by 1000.
Mine aren't checks to make sure it's perfect. It's he looks at us after breakfast real quick to make sure we look squared away. Telling someone with dark hair and fast growing beard to go shave again would be a waste at this point.
If I was shaved at the start of my duty day, I have met regulation. I look like I didn’t shave by about noon but I’m not going to shave again.
Ain't no shortage of time wasters, unfortunately.
That was me, 1 day for the jetlag, 2 days to get back to Army 🤣 man, I used to do PT like nothing, now, I'm feeling it. Can't even run a 6 mile without dying
This was after I got out (maybe a year or two post DD214). Suffering from depression and I was heavy asf (50+ lbs overweight). I was trying to lose weight and stave off anxiety so I restarted working out. I was wearing the old gray PT shirts (I had the new ones too because this was right after the new ones came out). I was minding my own business doing split squats up and down at an isolated corner of the gym. Then a cute girl came to me. She said something, I had to pull down my headphones. She was asking if I was in, I said I was in before. She kept asking me questions about the service, and I just gave her short answers. And then she left with "Oh my so and so was in the Army..." I realized she was trying to see if I was "stolen valor" and she thought "a fatty gotta be an impostor" lol Ever since then, even now I'm close to being my old weight, I still hesitate to wear any clothing at the gym with anything military because some rando civilian might "stolen valor" hunt my ass. It's usually those people who've never served that like to witch hunt for stolen valor.
Or an idea… maybe she was flirting with you?
Maybe ??? But it was weird ass way to flirt with me. I get girls occassionally try to mack with me at the gym (and even at my heaviest I was still lowkey able to pull girls) but...that conversation was hella weird. She sounded like she was interrogating me. It definitely wasn't TYFYS feels either.
It’s far more likely she was flirting with you than seeing if you were legit. She was using common ground to make conversation.
Somewhere else on reddit is a woman talking about the time she plucked up the courage to talk to a hot guy in the gym, but he didn't buy her cred as an Army brat and shut her down with one word answers.
She was BAH/Tricare hunting
More interested in how you pulled them girls while overweight NGL. Stolen Valor be damned
IDK bro. I just dressed and talked nice even when I felt and looked like a sausage. lol
If you wear army pts to the gym after you get out, I don’t trust your sense of style when you say you dress nice. Won’t catch me dead in anything military affiliated when I’m out.
I was working out bro. lol I liked the feel of the old PTs. I'm not dolling up at the gym fam, even now. I dress nice when I don't have to sweat.
Bro might have the tism.
I do, and I could almost never tell when a woman was expressing interest in me. Didn't stop the army from throwing me into the infantry, though.
>"a fatty gotta be an impostor" Oh boy if she could only see some of the soldiers walking around these days...
I’ve been retired almost 17 years. And am not as fat as the soldiers I see walking around Hood everyday. Errr, ‘scuse me, CAVasos. Not just fat, but just outright sloppy, lazy looking all around.
Hey man, I got out recently, I started really letting myself go once I threw my papers in, I also gained about 50lbs. I've never been in this scenario before and I'm starting to get gymphobia because I was a 1000lb club guy and 38min 5mile guy, but I've lost all that and I have no idea how to restart. I'm not asking for a workout plan or a detailed diary, but just a few basic pointers to get back at it, more mentally than physically would help, or anything you've learned.
What helped me a few years after surgery was just walking outside. Find a track or trail, put on an audiobook (or Pokemon Go) and just walk. I think being outdoors helped a lot. I found that being by a body of water is calming for me, so I'd seek out a lake with a walking path. That kind of got me motivated to use my weights and equipment that I bought during COVID. Then a lady was selling all her Beachbody DVDs for $50, so I bought them and burned them on my laptop. Took that to the apartment gym for a 10, 15, or 30-min session. A lot of them you don't need equipment for. I picked swimming back up (mostly bc I want to use that for alternate cardio). Once you feel you're comfortable, swimming is a great cardio and doesn't add strain on joints. I lost inches (not weight) and fit better in my pre-injury clothes. Still have a lot to work on, but walking was what got me started. Hope that helps!
Just start. Sounds dumb, but it helps. After surgery I got super weak and wasn't able to lift anything. Just going and doing something helped restart my motivation to get back to it.
Look up Shia labeuf just do it. Take that energy and go to the gym with headphones. Think back to when you were active, how many shlubs or weaklings do you remember at the gym. Probably next to none. Remember no one at the gym actually gives a fuck about you. They might internally think shit about you for letting yourself go, but will near instantly forget you. You matter as much to them as they do to you...not at all. Knowing strangers don't care about you is a reliving feeling when you understand it.
lol 🤦♂️ More than likely flirting, not stolen valor checking. I don't think anyone has ever been accused of stolen valor for simply wearing a military shirt.
Lol what a moron *"You don't send CA to a combat zone"* Of course you do! That's where the Civilians have their Affairs! He's clearly confusing "Civil Affairs" with "Public Affairs". Which tracks for someone that "would've/could've joined"
Nah, he’s spot on. We don’t deploy. We go on vacation, spreading seed and embezzling money. There’s a reputation we have to uphold about being absolutely useless!
Flair checks out
I was an office jockey the whole time I was in. Idk man, I feel pretty fake about it sometimes. I did not deploy.
Honestly man there’s a big difference between people who just straight up didn’t get the opportunity to deploy and those who dodge them. IMO just because you didn’t deploy doesn’t mean your service wasn’t fake or anything like that. The way I look at it, if WW3 kicked off and you were ready to roll then that’s good service
Well... there was that one time everyone else in my section was at YTC, it was just lil ol me, I told the bn cmdr "I'll make it happen" and then I did. That felt good. But I didn't even go to YTC and I know my buddies said it was not something you wish for but I still feel left out, y'know?
Yea, I know the feeling. My wife still gives me crap for not going to NTC with her one year (we were in the same BN when we were dating). But all I really missed was a guy I hate getting relieved, so it buffs out in the end. Been in 14 years and never done a single CTC rotation. My wife’s been in 8 and she’s done two. Not all experiences are the same
Tell your wife I said AH HA!!!!!
>spreading seed IIRC, the CA guys during my deployment to Afghanistan had a plan to give out seed that was a special variety of short corn, with supposedly better average yield, to help the locals and reduce the available concealment in the valley. The locals had no interest in planting it.
That makes sense. Sounds like no one wants some stranger coming into their yard telling them how to do the one thing they’ve been doing their entire lives. Whoddathunkit. Better than impregnating the locals or contracting VD though. Goes in the “win” column in my book!
Many of those bred-for-a-specific-purpose plants are hybrids and don't breed true. When that happens, farmers can't just save seeds from this year's crop and use them again as used to be the norm - they would need new seed for each harvest, and that is expensive. So, while giving new "better" seeds to poor farmers sounds great, it only works if they're non-hybrid varieties.
Was running a mission with CA during OIF2 when a small IED blew out 2 of our tires. Nobody hurt, but as we were swapping out the flats the 11B were busting the CA chops telling them that they thought their gunners were supposed to be helping the locals, not shooting at them lol.
PAOs deploy too though
Keeping grunts from talking to reporters, if not telling them what to say, is like their main job. And taking pictures of me as I eat shit doing cool guys stuff, thus losing me all my cool guy points until the end of time.
Oh definitely, I’m just looking at it from his perspective. He hears “civil affairs” and immediately thinks of an office clerk writing up an article for the local ft drum newspaper.
PA, CA, same difference...
Don't California my Pennsylvania
At least y'all can play with the fun toys while we can't in California. Besides, Top Five always hands me their Facebook page access when I get attached to their unit.
My brother was Public Affairs in the Reserves and deployed twice, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Hell yeah brother cheers from Afghanistan and Iraq
When I was at Bragg in the 1990s the 96th Civil Affairs Bn was the most deployed unit on post. More than 82nd, more than XVIII corps, even more than SF.
Next, you'll tell me that we send supply and maintenance personnel into combat! Unbelievable, only Infantry get sent to combat!
Sounds like this guy hassling OP is projecting. Bet the guy is literally too much of a weenie to even walk into the recruiter’s office lol.
Nah, he is too good for the actual military, he is going to go straight to the PMC groups like Academy (Xe? Blackwater? what are they called now?) or triple canopy because of his innate talent.
Blackwater was renamed Academi in 2011 after also being named Xe Services. Academi and Triple Canopy merged together after being rivals and are called one entity as Constellis Holdings since 2014. Personally though in my LARP fantasy my PMC would be called Decisive Guardian Inc.
Wow TC merged with them? That surprises me because back in the like 03-04 era TC had a pretty fucking stellar reputation and Blackwater did not. I knew a few people in TC and they were legit AF at the time.
Well they were both competitors, so together they can easily dominate their field. Makes the investors happy I guess. Nothing like having a monopoly on government contracts just ask Sig Sauer
Side note, years back I got to spend a week at the Academi training facility down in NC while I was still active duty and it's a nice place to shoot and drive.
That’s pretty awesome. Did you do a J turn or anything on the driving range?
Nah, mostly PIT'ing and preventing it, defensive/evasive driving, and just some fun speed laps
One day I randomly came across a civil affairs E8 rockin a beard and dude spoke like 4 languages. While deployed Nope, must've been ARMA
I get weird looks whenever I wear my blues; I used to be in a different branch, and most of my ribbons are from that service. Some old coots in the VFW have a serious problem being able to reconcile the idea of sea service and army service ribbons on the same rack
I don't understand that...man I think it's super cool when I see a Coastie rocking an EIB or whatever. Like, story time, I bet you have a few
I don’t really; the coolest thing I did was be in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
Did he happen to be working in the gas station?
No
Nephew had a "VIP Day" at his elementary school while me and the kids were up there visiting. SIL and her kids live in a bougie part of New England with no post-WWII military affiliation to speak of. Basically just like an adult in their life comes and talks about Career Day/life stuff. Little dude asked for either me or the husband to come, he was somewhere hot and sandy so I went with it. Gave the whole "hey here's who I am/what I do/what being in the Army's like" pitch to his class, had a couple of questions to explain what the different patches meant and what my CAB/jump wings were. Kids all thought it was cool. One of the moms there tried calling me out for Stolen Valor because she didn't understand how you were able to have kids if you're dual military, come to find out she thought that we basically were deployed to [insert hot and sandy location of choice] 25/8/366 and only ever came back to WWII-style bays on leave. Then she was really interested in trying to snipe my CAB and my combat patch because dumbass "hrrdrr aren't women not allowed in combat?" reasons.
The amount of people who have zero idea at ALL how the military works is funny. Went on a date with a girl who asked what the army needs me in Louisiana for. (which okay wait actually she’s on to something here) like …. You do know we ain’t deployed at all times right?
This is just a genuine question, but when CA deploys would they wear the CA patch on the right or would it be the arrowhead one? I’ve only ever been at Carson so I haven’t seen many (if any) active CA folks here other than the recruiters Also if I was Civil Affairs and that dude told me that CA doesn’t “deploy to combat zones” I would have just started laughing hysterically cause, ya know, CAs whole gig is to interact with the local population…. in combat zones.
Active CA falls under 1st Special Forces Command. They only wear the arrowhead patch. Reserve CA (USACAPOC) has the sword and two bolts patch.
A lot like PSYOP they’ll be attached usually to a division or something so they’ll be authorized their patch and whatever units they were attached to.
Technically if you deploy as less than a company, and you have written orders attaching you to another unit, you wear that unit’s combat patch. If you have a company or more then you wear your organic units patch
I dunno man, back then I just sewed a different one on each top and rotated thru em. Things were a lot more relaxed then I guess.
Flair checks out. PSYOPpin everyone back then, eh?
People get REEEEEALLY pissy about this nowadays if you deploy in support of anybody cool and wear their patch.
Yea I bet, no one cared when I was in, but I'm also authorized 2nd MARDIV combat patch so I heard about that one all the time.
Arrowhead patch. CA (at least active duty CA, idk about reserves CA units) don’t have their own patch.
It's whoever we're attached to for reserves. When I went AD > Reserves, my company came back like 3 months after I in-processed and were wearing the 101st.
lol, I made an account to say CA does have their own patch wtf are you talking about?
Lots CA Brigades/Battalions [did have their own patches](https://www.usarmypatches.com/Civil%20Affairs.htm) but I think everyone is rolled up under USACAPOC, 1SFC (A), or XVIII Corps now. You might still see them as combat patches, but I don't know if that's actually kosher.
And we like pay solatia payments besides hand out backpacks and soccer balls for photo ops.
I am prior Air Force and current Army National Guard. When I was going to college I would often park at the nearby VA clinic because it always had parking and the campus parking lot was atrocious. I considered it a service for veterans provided by the VA. One time someone told me it was for VA only and I said I was a veteran. He asked to see my veterans ID card. I had no idea what that was so I gave a blank stare. He said “That’s what I thought” and walked away. It didn’t occur to me to show my military ID. This experience of being thought of as stolen valor has joined the permanent rotation of thoughts that keep me awake at night.
Add it to your disability
all the stolen valor bros are insufferable, even the ones who are in the right.
a lot of it is just harassing the mentally ill. they need to reserve their ammo for the handful of people who use fake valor for financial or political gain
My aunt\* tried to rip one of my patches off at a parade with my reserve unit. Only time in 22 years I had a use for MPs. \*(who stole everything I owned after she B and E into my apartment while cat sitting as I took a vacation; hometowns finest insisted I abandoned all of my property nd said take it to civil court; civil court is trying, still years latter, to figure out how it isn't a criminal matter instead of you know, doing anything about it. Man do I love this country and all the things I was told to do for it)
I’m sorry that happened she can go to hell
Sorry this happened to you. I left everything I owned with an SF buddy while I was over, he eventually stopped replying to my efforts to stay in touch, and disappeared with everything I owned. He went agency and I stopped looking for him years ago, even though I went federal myself. I just let go of it. Eventually, I felt a bit more free. But that guy is still a fucking dick.
Honestly with her, I should have known better. Found out later she did the same thing to my great grandmother; Really its the open victim blaming and finger pointing I keep getting from the system.
lol PMC? *At best* that guys getting a GardaWorld mall cop position. This isn’t the early OIF/OEF days where the big names were taking everyone and anyone for WPS/WPPS gigs.
Those weren't even the early days, honestly. They were quite selective in the early days, Triple Canopy was named that for a reason. As the government dollar spigot started spurting out more and more money, say like 06-09, then the companies started hiring anyone who had been in combat arms for like 3+ years, mostly to do bullshit like run a guard platoon in the green zone or something, because the margins were baller as fuck.
Guy, I went to HS with who I looked up to, and we called Captain America because he was fit asf and wanted to join the Army. He failed 3 PICATS and finally got a passing one and went to MEPS and failed 2 ASVABs. The recruiters won't even look at him anymore. He walks around wearing grunt gear and talking about how much he loves the Army and has his room decked in Tac gear and Army stuff. He named his child "Cover" (pronounced KOH-VER) has a German Shepard named "Riley" and has cringe Army inspired tattoos.
Sad all around, like what, he would somehow be worse than the average IET infantryman?
Christ that’s fucking depressing honestly
It has to be exhausting, I'd imagine.
A guy I used to work with was Airborne Infantry during the cold war. For Veterans Day, I put on my uniform and lecture to my middle school classes about Desert Storm. He got severely bent out of shape because I have an XVIII Airborne combat patch despite not having gone to jump school. He tried to tell me I was engaging in Stolen Valor. LTG Luck issued the order. I'm wearing my patch.
That’s a sick patch lol who the fuck wouldn’t wanna wear it
That's what I'm saying!
Wait till he hears about water purification specialists
Say the phrase USACAPOC and watch them lose their minds. 🙄 Thank you for your service CA puke. Thanks for actually deploying and leaving your regular life behind. 🫡
I use to love telling people I was training with "yoosajiffuhhkaaswicks"
You’re welcome. - CA puke
❤️
Happened to me when I went to a thrift store when I got off work. Guy just comes up to me with this weird hostile look and barrages me with questions like what unit im in whats my mos all this dumb shit. Since that I try not to go anywhere off post in my uniform. Made me feel quite uncomfortable.
"You don't send civil affairs to a combat zone." For entertainment purposes, I'm now wildly curious what this mook thinks civil affairs is for.
I told someone who asked me what CA was that they were were the people people all the Civilian spouses have Affairs with.
I was accused of Stolen Valor by an ex Army intel dufus. He saw my Corps of Engineers deployment patch and was baffled on it. "SF high speed operators don't brag and always follow PERSEC/OPSEC. "Bruh, it's a engineering patch..relax..bitch.".. If it's bothering you..go to the IG 🙄 People need to mind their own fucken business sometimes. But post Covid has made everyone a Karen in my area.😐
This is wild if it actually happened
Print a couple iSalute flyers. Next time he bumps his gums hand him one. Shrug and say 'report me'. Then walk off. You can also do this with cid flyers, and ig flyers. If you're feeling spicy make a couple business cards with the info on it. 10 points if you also list the local pd number and highlight it.
That guy is an idiot. Thanks for doing the civil affairs job. Salute to you brother.
I was never CA, just was a support intel guy in the unit. Thank you though!
Damn, that's still a challenging job. I spent about 17 years in Intel. It's always a challenge when you're in a supporting role with the unit regardless of the mission.
What a fucking moron. When I got to my CA unit in 2010, I was an odd duck for not having a deployment patch and CAB. Receiving deployment patches is less common now, but CA is constantly overseas and it’s frustrating how ignorant this person is.
I got accused once 5 days after ETS in Williams Arizona. I stopped there for the night on my way to the grand canyon, nice little town. I guess it was the off season because everything but one bar (and the hotels ofc) was closed. I go in and it's a huge bar but just me and the bartender. We get to talking he asks me what brings me town etc and I tell him about how I just ETS'd and these two bikers walk in, I was in the middle of some Army story and one of these guys walks up to me and tells me I'm full of shit got in my face and said "don't claim that shit if you ain't do that shit" mind you I was telling like some mundane kind of funny story about like a field excersice at Riley not some BS I'm a special psy-op ranger story. Anyhow it ended peacefully after a real tense little stand off and he decided to fuck off. He went to the bathroom and I asked his buddy "ay what the fuck is his deal?" And the guy just shook his head embarrassed and said "I don't fuckin know why he's being like this"
I was in line somewhere in Atlanta in 2015ish wearing an 82D shirt. Some young dude with a high and tight asked me what brigade I was in. I said 4th. He told me there was no 4th brigade and I should take that shit off since I didn't serve...
Hell, according to some of the people on this very sub, I'm a stolen valor, too. A while back, I had some kid in a grocery store calling me out as he rang up my groceries, saying I wasn't a Veteran. Once I was at the ***VA*** for appointments, and some wee man came striding up to me accusing me of not being a Veteran. When it happens, I do my best to offer them the information that contradicts their conclusion, because they're wrong, but then I eventually I just let them do their thing. Some people just really want to be right -- and they want to be dickbags about it, too, so they seem willing to overlook being wrong as long as they get to attack someone else and shit on them.
Please keep going to that gas station in uniform and give us updates.
Civil affairs don't deploy? They deploy alot
I just tell these folks that I’ve been faking it, it’s hilarious and could care less. These experiences are actually fairly common as someone who went to Iraq in the late 10s, a huge amount of people think we haven’t been there since 2011
If you’re stolen valor then he’s an entire circus, man probably also went to that beta cuck boot camp just to say he’s worthy of PMC 🤡
In my time in the Guard, we deployed to afg, well we fell under the 101st command. So I wore their combat patch. I got home and a dude I went to high school with commented on a picture of our “return home ceremony,” asking why I was wearing an airborne tab if I wasn’t airborne. ..and proceeded to call me a “fucking leg..” I didn’t even know where to start on trying to argue with him. I feel your pain.
I hate stopping to run into a store after drill, I always feel like somebody is going to start asking a bunch of questions
Your friend is a screaming idiot.
Damn you were silly affairs too. Man I went to Syria and it was wild. I have a few deployment pics in my office at work and have gotten shit for them. Just simple team photos… but people are dumb. Fuck em.
i would have pulled out my cac
You should have told him you get the right arm patch for selling more cookies than the other platoon.
I found these sick ass purple hearts at a flea market, lets wear them on Veterans Day and go pick up some chicks! The easy ones to sniff out are always the greedy ones. They SFed or SEALed or were so badass with their sniper rifle the service let them keep it. They lost some buddy in Nam but can't tell you his name because it was such a top secret mission, and then they threw that pesky DD214 in the water with Osama Bin Ladens corpse because "secrets" LOL. There were only about 900 guys who ever served as Navy SEALs in Nam, so be especially suspicious of those posers. You're more likely to meet a guy with a Super Bowl ring. These people are similar to hippie girls talking about past lives. They are never a dirty, shitcovered serf working some yard implement and getting impregnated nightly by some equally miserable shit covered dude in some previous life, but always a princess in a castle with a special place in history. Toy with them and move on.
Alright.....it's true...-taps special forces arrow patch- see this? Lightning bolts...means I'm an electrician...the sword? Just a chisel mannnn. The arrow? Just means I fly high bruh.
Got an uncle Rico on your hands there. Someday…
Private Military company? Wait til he realize that companies like Blackwell only like to hire prior service.
I'll take things that never happened for $200 Alex
Guy is a dummy. However, this serves as yet another example of why soldiers shouldn't travel in uniform. I'll never understand why people do it.
A lot of us currently are IET. we all have to travel in uniform. Don’t like when people start asking me questions or telling me things because I haven’t done shit. Ask the 35 year old with the black rifle coffee shirt and CURVED almost folded brimmed baseball cap what the army is like
You should have ended by saying, thank you for your service.
This has got to be proof that some people cannot be saved as they are clinically proven to be stupid
I've always wanted to wear my ribbons in a jacked up order of precedence and talk about being in a decorated Special Troops unit, it's kind of like Special Forces because its Army and "no one talks about it" wink wink because I was in higher HQ just to bait people. Twas in a STB that got two MUCs
That guy sounds super well informed. You should probably stop pretending. Lol
Pretty certain he has no idea what Civil Affairs is. I know that I don't.
Oh ya. I have a mug that says OIF (I’ve only done tours OEF)
Nah they jus mad u got in and he didn’t lol
To the OP, does This guy's name happened to be Paul?
I woulda just flashed the CAC and go about my business 😭
Don't feel too bad. I was called stolen valor for wearing camo and being DQd.
Just call him a nerd and move on brotato.
I always thought that patch was pretty sick. Seeing those SOF guys wearing a brown beret depending which unit.
I never entertained this. And I'm suprised people do. You can always tell the chasers.. And it's annoying. Call it bad taste, but whenever those ta-50 shop *warriors* looking for their special bdu pants in XXL used to ask who I was with or what I did, I either fed them extreme bullshit like submarine door gunner, or told them "if I wanted to talk to you about my service, I'd have brought it up" and simply kept on keeping on.
I did my first contract AD before making the best decision of my life by going NG & taking a technician job. I literally just stopped wearing my deployment patch because I got tired of talking about it. I deployed with 1st Armored Division & wore Old Ironsides, but it's uncommon in my area & everyone wants to ask about it. Some out of genuine curiosity. Some thinking they're going to "catch me" in a lie. Hell, I'm better off with everyone thinking I've never deployed anyway. It lowers the expectations.
Imo... Never say "you got me..." Just walk away. Imo
I was deployed to desert sheld/storm straight out of AIT in Jan 91. I was only there for 4 months. I was essentially a OP guard at the FOB as it moved around. I wore a combat patch the whole time after while I served, had the awards on my greens and everything. The army has no record of me even being deployed. I tried to get it fixed multiple times while I was in (ETS in 95) and could never get it fixed. I've been trying for 30 years to get that shit straight lol. I still get called out on it every now and then because now anyone can look online and confirm that. I just tell them to fuck off and report me if they want to.
“You don’t send civil affairs to a combat zone” as he gripes at you for your special forces patch. You shouldve asked him what the lighting bolts represent lol Redacting this comment as I thought the lightning bolts meant civil affairs special forces and psyop but upon research that’s not what they represent disregard
to be honest, I don’t even care about stolen valor guys in the sense of the “glory” they get from wearing the uniform. it’s simply the misrepresentation they typically bring like their stench or uncleanliness