Pride in Service (Stolen Valor)

If you don't earn it (like this Marine did) then don't wear it. Time for a little rant about something that really gets under my skin. Sometimes, I laugh it off, because of the absurdity, sometimes not so much. It’s something that has been happening since time infinitum, however in this digital age, it has been pushed to the forefront, and that is telling people you are something that you’re not. I saw a picture of a Navy man, retired Master Chief, standing there holding the flag, medals gleaming proudly off his chest, with a very serious look on his face. At first glance, he seems like a rather impressive chap. Then, he opens his piehole and tells his story. As he tells it you think to yourself that he’s one lucky dude to still be with us. Then, you look closer at the medals and notice that impressive one top right (left as you face him); it’s the Silver Star. Now, since the end of Vietnam, you can be pretty sure that there are not that many people that have earned (I hate when they say “win”, because it’s not a fricken lottery or raffle) the Silver Star. You start to wonder what took place for him to earn that medal, so you jump on the trusty digital information superhighway and find out that said person wasn’t awarded such a medal, since you are looking at the list of awardees right in front of you. Then you find out he wasn’t where he said he was during a particularly harrowing experience. I call it embellishing to make you look better, or fraud, but the official term is Stolen Valor and by law it is illegal. Why would a Master Chief in the Navy do something so stupid? Why would a Senior NCO think that they can get away with something like that in this day and age? More importantly; why would they want to? Did ya think that wearing a Silver Star would only attract attention in a positive way; maybe a free meal? Whatever motivates military personnel to do this; fame, respect, etc., is their call, I guess, but their motivations aren’t what I want to cover. I want to give all the PX Rangers a little insight into what they should be proud of and that is their service to their country. To wear something you haven’t earned discredits yourself and shows the military in a bad light. Not everyone can be Rambo, Maverick, Iceman, etc. Actually no one can, because they don’t exist, they are Hollywood interpretations of fiction. Not everyone can be Uncle Jimbo wearing the shimmering gold polyester pants (don’t deny it dude, the Sniper has the picture). Not everyone was with the Deuce Four. Not everyone tied their t-shirt to their head and wandered around the desert for a few days after killing his Iraqi captors at then end of the first Gulf War, wounded with no water (that’s my new favorite super trooper right there). I want to let you know a secret, the vast majority of US Army personnel are not in the infantry. Not everyone is Airborne, because not everyone wants to jump out of a perfectly safe aircraft that can land under its own power. I guess what I’m getting at is this: You are an integral part of a team, whether you are a clerk typist, supply, cook, turret mechanic, etc. Do you think that the weapons on that F-18 get their on their own? Do you think that radar and avionics never break down? And if they do; who repairs it? Not the pilot, it isn’t his job, he has enough to do chasing after the smoking hot instructor at Miramar. An Apache or Super Cobra without functioning weapons is a very expensive 2 place helicopter on a joy ride. Actually, if the weapons aren’t working properly, it’s 2 very upset and nervous pilots that are playing moving target for the bad guys, not to mention the lack of support they are able to provide to the folks on the ground that might just need their help. It’s that important. Your job in the military was/is an essential part of the overall operation, because trucks don’t fix themselves, food doesn’t just magically fall from the sky (neither do paratroopers), IED’s don’t disarm themselves (EOD guys are nuts. They have stones the size of Texas, but they’re a little off), and that new bridge didn’t build itself. Be proud of who you are and the service you do/did, that’s enough for normal people, because we all served and we all had a job to do. Old Trooper out.