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Tuesday, March 16. 2010

Thirteen ways to spot a phony Vietnam Veteran

Keep these in mind.  Such are from actual cases, nut cases.


1. His Good Conduct Ribbon has a “V” on it..
2. Says the Government “lost” his service records so they won’t have to reveal the secret missions he was on, which is why he can’t wear his MOH.
3. His 12 rows of ribbons include the WWI Victory Medal.
4. Modestly claims he served with SOG, the “Special Operations Group” in Vietnam.
5. Has a harrowing story of how on his first day in country, he had to kill two “gooks” walking point on a patrol into Cambodia.
6. Can’t seem to remember what unit he served with, below the division level—if that—or just where he was in Nam. (I was all over!)
7. Says he enlisted in the Air Force, but was trained at Marine Corps Basic Training at Camp LeJeune by Marine Drill Sergeants for special service with the SEALs.
8. Appears to have been born about 1965.
9. His MOS of “Bandsman” was just a cover for the secret missions he was running in both North Korea and North Vietnam.
10. Starts telling you about the atrocities he committed.
11. Can’t remember his MOS, the names of anyone he served with, or which C-Rats had the big can main meals.
12. You show him your John Wayne and he doesn’t know what it is.
13 The reason the other POWs never heard of him is he was held in a separate camp because he knew too much.

Posted by Bruce Kesler at 10:59 | Comments (13) | Trackbacks (0)

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I always ask Army vets what their MOS (Military Occupation Specialty) was. True vets will say without a seconds hesitation something like "Eleven-Bravo" (Infantry) or "Ninety Five Bravo" (MP). It's always a number followed by a letter.

I was an MP so I knew that Special Ops guys in Viet Nam were usually assigned to the 173 Airborne Brigade. EVERYONE was assigned to a unit, even if only for the purpose of issuing an ID card.

Also, given my experience, I can look at a row of ribbons and tell immediately if they 'fit' or not. Plus they are worn in a certain order.

On another site, one vet always asks where they did their basic. No one forgets that. For SEALS, you ask their BUDS number.
#1 Bigjay on 2010-03-16 13:45 (Reply)
Not all the Special OPs were with the 173rd, only the ones down south. And a lot of what you are saying really depends on when one was over there and where.
My MOS was 101B later changed when the Army went rotor.
I was over there early for the first tour before '65. It wasn't like the second, let me tell you.
#1.1 Vermont Woodchuck (Link) on 2010-03-16 17:10 (Reply)
Thanks to you Viet Nam War Veterans for your service. You did not get the respect from the nation that you deserved in that era.
#2 RickTn on 2010-03-16 14:25 (Reply)
Heh - I know from experience that when vets are talking, it's usually the talkers who were REMF in supply and are really "Era" vets rather than in-country types. As you know, I don't let it bother me - tall tales and wild adventures are a dime a dozen.

I have to defend the John Wayne thing though. I was talking once to a friend - a decorated Air Force pararescue type and high school classmate who didn't know what it was either. And he did arms proficiency at Camp LeJeune and jump school at Fort Bragg. Not all services called a John Wayne a John Wayne. The funny thing is we were talking about this and that at a reunion and he asked me if I still had my P-38. I was trying to figure out why I would have a WWII fighter airplane, when he pulled his out on his key chain. :>)

You know what - I still have one on my key chain - damn thing is just so freakin' useful. You might say that it's the first "multi-tool".

Ah - the memories - the memories. Good times. Well, ok - some weren't so good, but hey - almost 50 years ago so I'll let it slide.

1 - Speaking of good times - I was listening to Sirius the other day on the 60s channel (60s on 6) and Cousin Brucie had a retrospective of the music popular with the troops during the Vietnam - 65/66 through '70/71. Did that bring back some memories.

1a - I dragged a Zenith Oceanic radio almost everywhere with me in Vietnam - built a little signal booster circuit out of some parts I scrounged from an Air Force electronics shop in Bein Hoa - I could get West Coast radio stations when the gray line was just right and the shortwave listening was a blast. The BBC did a great job playing all the stuff that Armed Forces radio wouldn't (or couldn't). Played hell charging the battery though. :>)

2 - Speaking of C-rats - have you tried any of the MREs yet? I gotta tell you - the vegetarian meal is terrific and a couple of others aren't that bad either.
#3 Tom Francis on 2010-03-16 15:39 (Reply)
Hay Tom I had never heard of the p-38 being called John Wayne :-) Right on about the REMFs doing all the talking, 1965-66 Saigon was off limits to 1st Inf grunts, mainly because of the infestation saigon Warriors.
#3.1 Lee Helle (Link) on 2012-06-19 22:42 (Reply)
Having volunteered with a Vietnam Vets group for several years--I don't need to ask--if they were "in country" it is in their face. Run down and beat up, or educated and successful or anyone in between--that war is in their face, there is an aura.
#4 apple pie on 2010-03-16 15:46 (Reply)
You can see it in their face?? It's fools like you who enable these phonies to get away with it. The beat up looks are from all the hard drugs they took. If you're theory had any merit, Alice Cooper would have five tours in 'nam.

I can tell by the look on the're faces.........Stupid!
#4.1 Tom on 2011-10-25 09:25 (Reply)
91bravo here. I served in the European theater. I was a specialist in the Pilsner campaigns.
#5 Brian in Idaho on 2010-03-16 17:02 (Reply)
Glad you didn't get into that hell hole. Everyone has(d) a part to do from the cooks to the mail handlers. If that doesn't get done, the guys on the pointy end of the stick are screwed. Really screwed. All the training and the plane I had wasn't worth crap except for the crew with the wrench. I never forgot that.
REMF's are bungholes who hid then want glory after the fact.
#5.1 Vermont Woodchuck (Link) on 2010-03-16 20:46 (Reply)
05B20, Radio Operator from '66 to '67. I never heard VN referred to as "Nam", either, until it was popularized by Magnum PI. Maybe it was, but it's a flare for me.

Another flare is when the putative vet won't tell you where he was, or "we weren't supposed to be there".

On top of all this, somehow you just know the breed , the way a male dog can spot a bitch on the otherr side of a football field.
#6 Hotspur (Link) on 2010-03-16 18:12 (Reply)
I ask all the time usually unit and place because of all the bums claiming to be homeless Viet Nam vets. Had a guy answer the other day he was in the 3rd Infantry. Regiment maybe/division no.
(personally served 8 months in the 2/14th Infantry/25th Division, 4 months security guard in Long Binh) 8/68-8/69
#7 bill on 2010-03-16 20:21 (Reply)
Years ago I worked in a government office with attorneys. One attorney loved to tell stories about his time in 'nam. He had nothing good to say about the people and the stories were quite ugly and he was forever telling them to us.
One day, another attorney very quietly came up to my desk and, in a low voice, told me to not pay attention to the other man. He said the other guy served behind a desk in saigon and did not really know the people. This second attorney had worked in the jungle, fighting side by side with the vietnamese. He had been into the villages. He thought highly of them and was upset that the blowhard was demeaning these people. I tend to believe the one who worked and fought with the native vietnamese.
#8 J on 2010-03-17 08:54 (Reply)
A Nam vet friend of mine told me that one of the techniques he used when hearing someone talk about in country service was to say, "Oh you must have fought in the battle of _______. " (the blank being for a Vietnamese phrase did not stick in my memory, I'm sorry to say) Though it sounded like a place name, the phrase was Vietnamese for "I surrender."
#9 BlogDog (Link) on 2010-03-17 10:30 (Reply)
Ha! Ha! Great response to a "wannabe"! The battle you are thinking about was the Battle of "Chu Hoi"!!!!!
LOLOLOL!!! I served in country 1969-1979 Brown Water navy - costal and Cua Viet rover.
#9.1 Jim Sweet on 2011-03-18 13:17 (Reply)
For what it's worth: first husband served on "secret duty" out of Japan into Viet Nam 1961-1963. Was shot at twice by snipers while working on airplanes out on the tarmack. Kid working next to him got killed. We were in that place a long time before it became public knowledge. In SF during 1966--saw hundreds of them load up at Oakland (World Airways). By the way those guys going over in those years did not do drugs--most of them had never even seen marijuana. It was the demand created by the no go college kids that created the drug market. I will always believe that we stayed in VN way too long in order to develop the market here stateside. Kissinger did not work for the US!
#10 another one on 2010-03-17 11:37 (Reply)
It is usually easy to spot the phonies. Their stories are about the same. I was there from late 66 through the 68 Tet Offensive. I agree with #10 that drugs in that time period were basically unknown.

I like to ask the phonies if they ever had bamniba, saw a Chieu Hoi or if they were xin loi. I am still surprised that a phony will go up to a known VN vet and try to BS him. There are just too many ways to trip up the phonies. I have heard that now there is virtual army of younger guys claiming to be Iraq or Afghan vets. I guess it is the same for every war.
#11 TomR on 2010-03-17 12:58 (Reply)
Thank all of you for your service. I was 4-F (tried to volunteer in 1969) but have friends, classmates and relatives who served.

Your website is great. I would add to your hints the following:

1) Doesn't know what an MOS is.

2) Never heard of Camp Peary ("I was a CIA Agent!").

3) Born after 1955 (weren't the last U. S. combat troops out of South Viet Nam on 3/29/73? Not counting Marine embassy guards).

Keep up the good work, and thank you again for your service.

John Savage
#12 John Savage (Link) on 2010-11-18 19:16 (Reply)
All Marines know that their "Medics" were Navy Hospital Corpsmen. Ask the suspected phoney Marine "What was the rank of your Medic and what did you call him?" If the guy says he was a Private, Corporal or any other Marine Corps rate, he is a liar. The Medics are called "Doc" or "Corpsman" and they have a US Navy rate like 3rd class or second class Petty Officer. The Corpsman wear the Marine Corp uniform with the Navy rating on their sleeve.
"Semper Fi" to all the Mariens from a former Navy Corpsman.
#13 Bill on 2011-03-06 13:59 (Reply)
What a shame we are still going through this. There will always be those that try to associate themselves with something they are envious of. For myself, I wish they could go back and redo the experience for me if it were possible. It's just one of those things that we have to put up with in this world of "people"....
#14 Redleg69 on 2011-08-18 08:19 (Reply)
I am President of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 100 in Athens Ohio. I have a veteran named Kevin Martin who is claiming "Combat Status in both North and South Vietnam".
His DD-214N shows no Vietnam Service or Campaign Medals, yet he has become a local VFW Post Commander. However, the Post (located in a building on a defunct Hill Top Gun Club property burnt down, ruled arson. I'd like you to send me an email address where I could send some documents about all this. In the mean time, take a look at:
http://www.athensohiotoday.com/news/article_68215a38-5434-11e1-b54a-001871e3ce6c.html

Also: http://www.hilltopgunclub.com/

In the article, you will note that he blames anti-veterans in the community for the fire, claims his Post has received a lease for the gun club property, claims he is not going to use the property for his personal carry/conceal instruction business. But there it is: http://www.hilltopgunclub.com/

He used to use a gun range at a local state park but the state closed it down.

The VFW Women's Aux connected with his post questioned his eligibility to be a member of the VFW, got a VFW adjutant to write a letter confirming the lack of VFW eligibility on his DD-214N. Kevin then wrote a nasty letter to the VFW Aux "ordering" them to not to conspire to question his honors of combat status in North and South Vietnam, and claiming a meeting was held at which the above mentioned VFW Adjutant attended, viewed his DD-214, and said he was VFW eligible. In the same letter he claimed the Post backed his Post leadership and gun club ambitions 100 percent. An email from the VFW Adjutant states that the adjutant was never at any such meeting. So far the VFW higher ups have done nothing to remove him except to confirm his non-eligibility and state it is up to a member of his post to file a complaint to remove and that the VFW Aux Women are not allowed to do so.
The BS goes on and on and on. I guess I should point out that his aunts are the ones in the VFW Aux that are trying to get him removed and that some of his relatives are part of the community group trying to stop him from re-opening the gun club for conceal/carry instruction. I would like to send you this stuff and see what you make of it.

Ray Strischek
#15 Ray Strischek (Link) on 2012-02-25 15:48 (Reply)

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