Vietnam Veterans have endured years of oppression by any number of political agendas.

Many of those agendas have overlapped, merged and fragmented, only to evolve into new species.

Many of us, have held out and maintained our personal integrity, while others have 'joined' the various splinter groups that pop up along the way, only to be guided by organizers and swarmed by infiltrators...

The book "Stolen Valor" (B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley) is a must read for veterans of any era, past and present, and any non-veterans that care enough to want to understand.

Many on this board and other boards have experienced Fakers, Posers and Chest Thumpers and even some Wannabe's.

Some veterans even 'feel sorry' for them... and want to give Fakers and Posers a break, while Chest Thumpers and Wannabe's don't feel sorry for anyone... except themselves!

I am not sure which is worse...

Fakers and Posers, who generally are just trying to steal from the government and the public, maybe just create a life through stealing identities, or

Chest Thumpers and Wannabe's, who want to Nuke'm All and seem to personally hold the sacred, secret of the one and only true veteran... the one's that agree with them... without exception.

Interestingly enough, more often than not, when you look behind that curtain, you find another agenda, which has nothing to do with service.

We are faced with the Freedom of Speech versus yelling "Fire" in a crowded theater, Right to Privacy versus Cons, Shams and Deceptions...
Honest Difference of Opinion versus the Tyrannical Arrogance of a single form of Patriotism... America, Love It or Leave It, as defined by the assertor.

Some on these boards have had the keen wit to spot the phonies... the desire and fortitude to uncover them... expose them.

Often they suffer the slings and arrows of those lest apt to fight the real fight, perferring to fight a more illusory war.

Then... when the Faker/Poser is exposed... many join in, some apologetic... others with I told you so... still others disappear, afraid that some of the light may shine on their own dark shadows.

The question I pose here... is "Do we allow these vocal anomalies... these aberrations that have no shame, no empathy... to define us for another ten or twenty years!

Are we simply going to be confined to the dust bin of history... in our lifetime... while the Fakers, Posers, Chest Thumpers and Wannabe's pick our bones!

Or are there more of us out there...

that simply need to organize better...

to share resources, indicators, experiences, knowledge and power...

to defend the honor of our service and those that have fallen from the piranha of con artists that have appeared, including the professional welfare veteran.

What about it?

I'll have to be completely candid here. I don't know what you mean.

At first I thought you were just talking about posters here and at other forums that are faking it. Y'know, read all the books, maybe served in one fashion but are pretending to be something else.

But the welfare veteran is a new species. You mean people that are somehow scamming the VA?

Well as a civilian,I've got to also ask....just exactly what are you trying to say?
I never served,does that mean I can't hold veterans in honor?Does that mean that my politics must conform to some strict ,rigid set of rules?My belief system is my own.I make no apologies to anyone for what I think or believe.
I agree with some on this site disagree with some.But,I respect those that have served.If they have turned to something I cannot believe in then I'm not going to beat myself or them up.Life is too bloody short.

nvr-btdt....No it doesn't. This thread is not directed at you. If it was, MAGForce would have place your moniker in the wording somewhere. You consistantly show proper respect to those that have served. No one is labeling you with any of the above.

This is actually directed at those that have been there and actually done that. We encounter those described above on occassion, and I agree with MAGForce, in that we should respond as one when they show up and start spouting off.

Thanks Gunny.My paranoia is showing
I'm now sipping bourbon to make everything OK.

sipping is fer wussies.....try chugging

Anyone remotely connected to a war zone or theatre of operation... knows damn well about the Medal Game.

Purple Hearts have been awarded for anything from a guy getting his head blown off to someone cutting themselves on a broken beer bottle falling off a bar stool in a rocket attack three blocks away.

It happens.

(I read a story yesterday about a guy in Iraq getting treated for a couple of wounds and the Doc asked him why one was bleeding and the other one wasn't. He said because he got the first one the day before and treated himself.)

Now... I personally do not think that our military personnel are paid enough, nor in some cases equiped properly.

And although I chose to go civilian and did well... I choose to support those that signed up and go in harms way.

There is indeed a new species that has come onto the radar... veterans that wake up and discover that they can't sleep well at night.

Coincidently, they also seem to learn that if they can connect that to Trauma... suffered from some tragedy they witnessed 40 years ago or that they got a mortar fragment in their arse... and have "flashbacks"... they can collect royalties.

One from column A and two from column B... shop around for the right Doctor and it goes from 30% disability to 50% service connected... BAM!

Then... they start to suffer even worse than they originally thought they were suffering and can't seem to get up in the morning... so they encroach on 100% disability.

That's the professional welfare veteran.

Having opened that can of worms... and fully expect some of them to be wondering around here occasionally... I would just remind them that you know who you are... and you are taking the needed resources away from the deserving.

I have a older brother that "stayed in" and retired as an E9 from the 101st a few years back now.

The transition was not easy and he took a job as a security guard in an Armored Truck to begin with.

He had some recurring problems from injuries and had difficulties with the system, so I am familiar with this area generally.

People with families... inside and getting out... need some more help.

Retirees after 25-30 years could use some assistance...

Unfortunately, the truer the warrior... the prouder the man (woman)... and they just don't want to grovel and beg... and don't.

They shouldn't have too!

Con artists don't mind at all... that's what they do... no problem.

These are the areas I am talking about.

On the other hand, thank God I don't have to decide... person by person... which camp they are in and I would probably err, severely... on the "give me" side of the equation.

But by God, when I found someone who...
(A) collects and didn't even serve... they would go to Levenworth.

(B) served, but get video taped hoisting an engine out of the pickup or winning a bowling tournament with a 100% service connected disability... they would pay it back or serve a tour or something...

It is just disgraceful to me, that's all... but I am old school... and will probably "fade away"

"Just gimme a coupla aspirin. I already got a Purple Heart."

MAGForce.....well said, and wholeheartedly concur.

When I retired, I elected to not draw disability for things that were caused by my own stupidity...ie: not wearing hearing protection, not useing protective gear when called for. I still can't hear worth a damn, but I'm doing well earning a living and don't need the disability allowance. I went from 155mm artillery commands into AV8 Harrier Squadrons. Ain't too many louder occupations than that.

If one is listed as 100% disabled and drawing a disability pension, they better be walking with a cane!

<grin> ...and all this time I didn't even know I was an INFIDEL... !!! <grin>

and they think this is such an insult to us....

Okay, I'm with you.

The medal game is tricky.

When that stuff about Kerry's medals was going on, I would explain it to civilians thusly; an E3 charges a machine gun nest and takes three rounds in his torso.

He gets a bronze star and purple heart.

The Lt. that sent him forward to take out the gun gets a silver star.

The Lt.Col back at base gets a silver star with an V for valor device.

The general far, far away gets his service's version of the Navy Cross.

That is of course an exaggeration but not as much as I wish it were.

On the welfare veterans, I wonder if the VA would employ detectives like normal insurance companies do or would that paint them as some kind of black hat.

Airwinger:

I was talking to a fellow veteran of the 1st Aviation Brigade the other day and he told me a little tale of just such a thing. He has to jump out of his helicopter to rescue a downed crew member from another chopper. The man needed medical attention during hostile fire and then had to be carried to the awaiting helicopter. This guy got a V device on his Air Medal while the pilot who sat in the chopper got a Bronze Star with V device for the same incident. Someone in the Infantry would not have gotten anything of course.