Boast-busters: Those who hunt and expose fake Navy SEALs are busier than ever

[n2doc]

By Annys Shin, Published: June 13
In Louisiana, a man duped the governor into believing he was the lone survivor of a Navy SEAL team ambushed in Afghanistan. In California, a jousting promoter said he was a SEAL veteran, not just a veteran of battles at Renaissance fairs. And in Georgia, a televangelist listed a stint with the SEALs in his online bio for years, along with bit parts in the films “Green Lantern” and “Who’s Your Caddy?”

None of these men ever served in the elite Navy units that undergo some of the toughest training in the military and undertake some of its most dangerous Special Forces missions. And while there have always been SEAL impostors, their ranks have been reinforced since a SEAL unit based in Little Creek, Va., killed Osama bin Laden six weeks ago.

“I’ve told four women alone this week to run the other direction,” said Mary Schantag, who, along with her husband, Chuck, a disabled veteran, checks out potential impostors and posts their names on their Web site, the P.O.W. Network.

The claims surface as stray comments in bars, a line in a Facebook profile, or an insignia worn on a cap. The consequences are often nil. Pentagon officials have said they don’t have the resources to fact-check every potential liar.


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http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/boast-busters-those-who-hunt-and-expose-fake-navy-seals-are-busier-than-ever/2011/06/08/AGQnsbTH_story.html

[arbusto_baboso]

1. If even one tenth of the guys claiming to be SEALS really were...

We'd be able to call up the equivalent of 3000 SEAL teams from the inactive reservist lists alone.

[Logical]

2. Why is that illegal but saying you are a lawyer or engineer is not? n-t

[arbusto_baboso]

4. It being illegal depends on the state you are in.

[Uben]

3. They very well might be SEALS

Stupid egotistical asshole liars. Just not navy seals.

[Scuba]

5. I've been telling people I served six years, when it was really five years, ten months and 26 days..

...and I always have a twinge of guilt.


These assholes who lie about their service need to be penalized.

[hunter]

6. I'm an X-Man

When I was in college I used to date Raven Darkhölme.

wikipedia

(Geez. If you're gonna make something up...)

[TexasProgresive]

7. A friend of my was part of a P-1 flight crew that flew in Vietnam

All crews who flew there had to go through SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) training. Jim said it was very rough. The week after they graduated a group of Seals came. They took over the installation. I would pity any one who pretended they were a Seal.