New Training Facility For Veterans Who We Are And What We: Fill & Download for Free

I found this list already compiled in the vast wasteland that is Facebook and traced it back to a Reddit thread, and then went through and verified it item by item and added some citations. I wanted to share it with the Quora community, because it’s quite interesting to me, and I’m curious what your thoughts might be. So here we go, what Trump has done for veterans:pardoned multiple war criminals[1]mocked and threatened Iraq War Purple Heart recipient Lt. Col. Vindman for his rank and wearing of his uniform, which resulted in his request for and receipt of military protection[2]Trump’s Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, worked in secret to deny comprehensive health coverage to Vietnam War veterans suffering from exposure to Agent Orange. [3]On Veterans Day 2019, Sen. Tammy Duckworth visited the Tijuana facility for US veterans deported by Trump[4]Trump gives control of vacant Syrian air base to Russia[5]On October 7, 2019, Trump abruptly withdrew support from America's allies in Syria after a phone call with Turkey's president (Erdogan). Turkey subsequently bombed US Special Forces.[6]Trump sent thousands of American troops to defend the oil assets of the country that perpetrated 9/11.[7]In September 2019, he made an Air Force cargo crew, flying from the US to Kuwait stop in Scotland (where there's no US base) to refuel at a commercial airport (where it costs more), so they could stay overnight at a Trump property (which isn't close to the airport). Trump’s golf courses in Ireland and Scotland are losing money, so he's forcing the military to pay for nights there.[8]In September 2019, the Pentagon pulled funds for military schools and daycares to pay for Trump's border wall.[9]In August 2019, emails revealed that three of Trump's Mar-a-Lago pals, who are now running Veterans Affairs, are rampant with meddling. "They had no experience in veterans affairs (none of them even served in the military) nor underwent any kind of approval process to serve as de facto managers. Yet, with Trump’s approval, they directed actions and criticized operations without any oversight. They wasted valuable staff time in hundreds of pages of communications and meetings, emails show. Emails reveal disdainful attitudes within the department to the trio’s meddling."[10]Veterans graves will be "dug up" for the border wall, after Trump instructed aides to seize private property. Trump told officials he would pardon them if they break the law by illegally seizing property.[11]Children of deployed US troops will no longer get automatic American citizenship if born overseas during deployment. This includes US troops posted abroad for years at a time (August 28, 2019).[12]On August 2, 2019, Trump requisitioned military retirement funds towards border wall.[13]Trump denied a U.S. Marine of 6 years entry into the United States for his scheduled citizenship interview (Reported July 17, 2019).[14]Trump made the US Navy Blue Angels violate ethics rules by having them fly at his July 4, 2019 political campaign event.[15]Trump demanded US military chiefs stand next to him at 4th of July parade.[16]In June, 2019, Trump sent troops to the border to paint the fence for a better "aesthetic appearance".[17]Trump used his D-Day interview at a cemetery commemorating fallen US soldiers to attack a Vietnam veteran (June 6, 2019)[18]as well as private citizen Bette Midler.[19]Trump made his 2nd wife, Marla Maples, sign a prenup that would have cut off all child support if their daughter Tiffany joined the military.[20]On May 27, 2019, Trump turned away US military from his Memorial Day speech because they were from the destroyer USS John S. McCain.[21]Trump ordered the USS John McCain out of sight during his visit to Japan (May 15, 2019). The ship's name was subsequently covered. (May 27, 2019)[22]Trump purged 200,000 veterans healthcare applications (due to known administrative errors within VA’s enrollment system) (reported on May 13, 2019).[23]Trump deported a spouse of fallen Army soldier killed in Afghanistan, leaving their daughter parentless (April 16, 2019).[24]On March 20, 2019, Trump complained that a deceased war hero didn't thank him for his funeral.[25]On February 25, 2019, Trump diverted military housing funds to pay for his border wall. A judge subsequently denied this. In July 2019, SCOTUS ruled that Trump could in fact divert military housing funds to pay for his wall.[26]Between 12/22/2018, and 1/25/2019, Trump refused to sign his party's funding bill, which shut down the government, forcing the Coast Guard to go without pay, which made service members rely on food pantries. However, his appointees got a $10,000 pay raise.[27]Trump bans transgender people from serving in the military, requiring to serve as their biological sex.[28]He denied female troops access to birth control to limit sexual activity.[29]He tried to deport a marine vet who is a U.S.-born citizen.[30]When a man was caught swindling veterans’ pensions for high-interest “cash advances," Trump's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined him $1. As a reminder, the Trump administration's goal was to dismantle the CFPB, installing Mick Mulvaney as the director, who publicly stated the bureau should be disbanded. (January 26, 2019)[31]He called a retired general a 'dog' with a 'big, dumb mouth'.[32]He increased privatization of the VA, leading to longer waits and higher taxpayer cost.[33][34] (My FIL has lost access to at least one of his services.)He finally visited troops 2 years after taking office, but only after 154 vacation days at his properties. (December 26, 2018) [35] [36]He revealed the faces of a Seal Team 5 deployment during his visit to Iraq in a publicity photo he posted on Twitter, which is “unusual”. (December 26, 2018) [37]Trump lied to deployed troops that he gave them a 10% raise (12/26/2018). He tried giving the military a raise that was lower than the standard of living adjustment. Congress told him that idea wasn't going to work. Then after giving them the raise that Congress made him, he lied about it pretending that it was larger than Obama's. It wasn't.[38]He fired service members living with HIV just before the 2018 holidays.(December 19, 2018-present) [39]He tried to slash disability and unemployment benefits for Veterans to $0, and eliminate the unemployability extra-schedular rating. (December 17, 2018) [40] [41]He called troops on Thanksgiving and told them he's most thankful for himself. (2018) [42]He urged Florida to not count deployed military votes. (November 12, 2018)[43]He canceled a WWI Cemetery visit on Veterans Day due to light rain. (November 10, 2018)[44]Image Source: Trump Makes Veterans' Weekend All About Himself, Blows Off Visit To WWI Cemetery In France Due To A "Little Rain" · DC TribuneHe followed the Veterans Day mistake in France by also skipping a visit to Arlington Cemetery, also because of light rain. (November 12, 2018)[45]He used troops as a political prop by sending more than 5000 of them on a phantom mission to the border to thwart some South American caravan, thereby causing them to miss Thanksgiving with their families. (October - December, 2018)[46]Trump changed the GI Bill through his Forever GI Act, causing the VA to miss veteran benefits, including housing allowances. This caused many veterans to run out of food and rent. (reported October 7, 2018)[47] [48]Trump doubled the rejection rate for veterans requesting family deportation protections. (July 5, 2018)[49]Trump deported active-duty spouses (11,800 military families faced this problem as of April 2018).[50] Some of them were Trump supporters.He forgot a fallen soldier's name during a call to his pregnant widow, then attacked her the next day. (October 23-24, 2017)[51]He sent commandos into an ambush due to a lack of intel, four were killed. (October 4, 2017)[52] [53] [54]“the largest loss of American lives in combat in Africa since the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993” Tongo Tongo ambush - WikipediaImage Source: New details emerge on ambush in Niger that killed 4 U.S. soldiersHe blocked a veterans’ group with an estimated half a million veterans and their families on Twitter. (June 2017) [55]He ordered the discharge of active-duty immigrant troops with good records. (2017-present) [56]Trump said he knows more about ISIS than American generals. (October, 2016)On October 3, 2016, Trump said vets get PTSD because they aren't strong enough. [57]Trump attacks Gold Star families - Myeshia Johnson--gold star widow, Khan family--gold star parents, etc. (2016-present) [58]Trump sent funds raised from a January 2016 veterans benefit to the Donald J. Trump Foundation instead of veterans charities. (The foundation has since been ordered shut because of fraud.) (January, 2016) [59]Trump said he has "more training militarily than a lot of the guys that go into the military" because he went to a military-style academy. (2015 biography) [60]Trump said he doesn't consider POWs war heroes because they were caught. He said he prefers people who were not caught. (July 18, 2015)Trump said having unprotected sex was his own personal Vietnam.(1998) [61]For a decade, Trump sought to kick veteran vendors off of Fifth Avenue because he found them unsightly nuisances outside of Trump Tower. “While disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses?” (1991) [62]Trump dodged the draft 4 times by having a doctor diagnose him with bone spurs [63]and once for a problem with his heels. [64] No Trump in America has ever served in the military; this spans 4 generations. In fact, the reason his grandfather immigrated to America was to avoid military service. [65] [66]Fired key impeachment witness Lt. Col. Alex Vindman and his twin brother from their White House jobs in an obvious act of retribution on 2/7/20. [67]Footnotes[1] Trump Sides With War Criminals[2] Trump Just Threatened War Hero and Impeachment Witness Vindman[3] Schumer Calls On Acting Chief Of Staff Mick Mulvaney To Reverse His Decision Denying Comprehensive Health Care To Veterans Suffering From Illnesses Due To Agent Orange Exposure | Senate Democratic Leadership[4] Trump's record on the military, veterans, and military families...[5] Russia Takes Over Vacated U.S. Air Base in Northern Syria[6] Turkey, Syria, the Kurds, and Trump’s Abandonment of Foreign Policy[7] https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-announces-new-sanctions-on-irans-central-bank/2019/09/20/23643aae-dbb9-11e9-a688-303693fb4b0b_story.html[8] Trump's record on the military, veterans, and military families...[9] Pentagon pulls funds for military schools, daycare to pay for Trump's border wall[10] Three of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Buddies Are Secretly Running the V.A.[11] Will Graves of US Veterans Be Dug Up for Trump's Border Wall?[12] Some Children of US Troops Born Overseas Will No Longer Get Automatic American Citizenship[13] Trump orders Navy to rescind medals from lawyers who prosecuted SEAL Eddie Gallagher[14] Deported Marine veteran trying to reunite with family denied US entry for citizenship interview[15] Adoration and anger in the crowd at Trump’s July 4th celebration at the Lincoln Memorial[16] Trump 'demands military chiefs stand next to him' at Fourth of July parade[17] Troops will paint border fence to improve ‘aesthetic appearance’[18] Trump criticised for using D-Day interview next to war cemetery to launch attack on Pelosi[19] Trump goes after Bette Midler during middle-of-the-night Twitter feud — from London[20] Trump's prenup from second marriage says child support would be cut off if his kid joined military[21] US sailors were reportedly turned away from Trump's Memorial Day speech because they were from destroyer USS John S. McCain[22] 'Out of sight': Trump confirms USS John McCain was hidden from his view[23] Trump administration breaks campaign promise, purges 200,000 VA healthcare applications[24] https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/04/16/ice-deported-widow-soldier-killed-afghanistan-attorney-says/[25] Twitter Users Bury Thankless Trump Over Ugly McCain Funeral Slam[26] Pentagon diverts $3.6 billion in military construction funds to build Trump's border wall[27] Trump signs bill ending 3-day government shutdown[28] Pentagon's transgender policy for military service to take effect, nearly two years after Trump tweeted about the ban[29] Military women report they are being denied access to birth control for 'ridiculous' reasons that may violate Pentagon policy[30] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/ice-almost-deported-u-s-born-marine-veteran-says-aclu-n959516[31] Trump’s CFPB Fines a Man $1 For Swindling Veterans, Orders Him Not to Do It Again[32] Trump calls retired general a ‘dog’ with a ‘big, dumb mouth’[33] Increased Privatization of the VA Has Led to Longer Waits and Higher Costs for Taxpayers[34] President Trump Pushes the Department of Veterans Affairs Toward Increased Privatization[35] Trump Visits Iraq, Pays Troops Surprise Visit[36] Trump Visits Iraq, His First Trip To A Combat Zone In His Life[37] FACT CHECK: Did Trump Reveal A ‘Covert’ SEAL Team?[38] Fact check: Trump brags to troops about 10 percent pay raise he didn't actually give them[39] Trump Quietly Starts Firing Service Members Living with HIV Just Before the Holidays[40] Trump Budget Proposal to Slash Veteran Benefits - Jeffrey Freedman Attorneys PLLC[41] Individual Unemployability Cuts On The Way? Team Trump Quietly Rolls Out Obama Admin Initiated Cuts, Severely Disabled Veterans May Lose Big[42] Donald Trump congratulates himself in Thanksgiving phone call to troops overseas[43] Trump wants Florida to stop counting votes, potentially excluding military ballots[44] Trump visit to US cemetery in France canceled due to rain[45] As nation observes Veterans Day, Trump not visiting Arlington National Cemetery[46] Trump: 'Don't worry' about troops spending Thanksgiving at border[47] VA.gov | Veterans Affairs[48] Some veterans are going into debt because the VA owes them money[49] Trump has doubled rejection rate for veterans requesting family deportation protections[50] As many as 11,800 military families face deportation issues, group says[51] Trump Attacks a Grieving Widow’s Account[52] Trump dodges his own Benghazi: Pentagon quietly closes investigation into Niger ambush[53] New details emerge on ambush in Niger that killed 4 U.S. soldiers[54] US soldier ambushed in Niger fought to the end[55] Trump blocks group representing military veterans on Twitter[56] US Army quietly discharging immigrant recruits that were promised citizenship[57] Video: Trump Under Fire for Comments on Veterans With PTSD[58] 'Repugnant': Families of War Dead Demand Apology From Trump[59] Judge signs off on shutdown of Trump Foundation after ‘pattern of illegality’[60] Donald Trump Likens Military School He Was Forced to Attend to Serving in the Actual Military[61] Trump Boasted of Avoiding STDs: Vaginas 'Are Landmines ... It Is My Personal Vietnam'[62] Trump vs. Veteran Vendors[63] FACT CHECK: Donald Trump's Draft Deferments[64] Trump was granted five draft deferments during the Vietnam War[65] The Trump Family's Immigrant Story[66] Trump's record on the military, veterans, and military families...[67] Key impeachment witness Lt. Col. Alex Vindman fired from White House job

That’s how it used to be done, and there was very good reason why the functions are now distinct and separate. I can’t think of a single efficiency that would be gained by going backwards.This isn’t me being a precious VA employee who wants to protect my old stomping grounds. This is me being a bureaucrat who’s seen the innards of the two largest bureaucracies in government - VA and DoD - and is telling you, in as direct a way as possible, why you do not want to combine those sausages.Let’s start from the beginning. Like, the beginning-beginning.Veterans’ compensation in the United States literally goes back to the Pilgrims. The Plymouth Colony determined in 1636 that those who were disabled in their fight with the Pequot Indians should receive regular compensation for their service.Flash forward 150 years, and Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays, angry that he was still owed compensation for his service (as were basically all veterans), took up arms against the Massachusetts government in a rebellion that literally shaped the nation as we know it today[1].The first Congress under the Constitution established a pension for veterans as one of its first acts, and so began the bureaucratic nightmare.The pension program (and its growth with various amendments) was run by the War Department until 1849, when it grew too large and was moved into the newly formed Department of the Interior.Any health care for veterans, meanwhile, remained principally a state responsibility until the end of the Civil War, when the influx of disabled veterans was too great for the patchwork of Soldiers’ Homes (some of which were Federal) to manage. In 1865, as the Civil War was coming to a close, the government formally established a network of facilities to provide long-term care for severely disabled veterans.Over time, Congress expanded the eligibility criteria for admission into these homes; and in so doing, they gradually transformed to being able to provide hospital level care.America’s entry into WWI had, perhaps, the longest repercussions for veterans’ care and benefits.The number of disabled veterans overwhelmed both military hospitals (where many were undergoing long-term recovery) and the Soldiers’ Homes network. In 1919, broad responsibility for veterans’ health care spun off to the Public Health Service and contracted private hospitals; and in 1921, Congress authorized the construction of hospitals specifically for veterans’ care.Also in 1921, Congress attempted to consolidate the various veterans’ programs under a single umbrella (the Veterans’ Bureau), but their efforts were incomplete. While the Veterans’ Bureau took on responsibility for insurance, outpatient care, and education benefits, the Bureau of Pensions (Department of Interior) still had responsibility for, um, pensions, and the National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers remained a separate entity.In 1930, Congress tried again, and so created the Veterans’ Administration to consolidate the Veterans’ Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions, and the National Homes.For the first time, the Federal government assumed, under a single organization, total health and compensation responsibility for veterans and their dependents.Between the influx of WWI veterans and the retirement of Spanish-American War veterans, spending on veterans’ services shot up through the 1920s. Moreover, Congress continued to expand eligibility requirements and levels of compensation. This led to a fateful decision in 1924 to authorize bonus payments to WWI veterans, payable beginning in 1944.When the Great Depression hit, many veterans found themselves out of work with the rest of the population. In the spirit of Daniel Shays almost 150 years before - but much, much less violently - veterans marched on Washington to demand that their compensation be cashed out so that they could support their families.Congress said, “No,” and the Hoover Administration responded by sending in the military to disperse the encamped veterans and their families at bayonet point[2].So that was a great episode in American history (and in 1936, Congress relented and authorized early payment).But the trauma of the Bonus Army and the general experience of WWI veterans during the Great Depression spurred Congress to make significant reforms to veterans’ compensation and care leading up to and during WWII. This included wide expansion of education benefits, home loan assistance, and unemployment compensation.However, as with WWI, the rapid demobilization at the end of WWII caught VA under-prepared. By the end of 1947, it had doubled its staff to operate 126 hospitals and 721 offices to manage care and process claims. The Korean War further expanded VA’s operational capacity.To get ahead of the problems encountered with rapid demobilization of forces abroad (and, if you’re wondering, I’m now starting to get to the crux of the question), VA in 1967 sent field officers to Vietnam to educate soon-to-separate servicemembers on their entitlements as veterans. This was the forerunner what’s now codified as the Transition Assistance Program (TAP).What was then a loose affiliation between the Department of Defense and Veterans’ Administration is now a statutory, funded program that includes DoD, VA, the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security, and the Small Business Administration. Attending the program - which not only covers veterans’ benefits but includes financial literacy and general career advice - is mandatory for separating servicemembers.The VA’s on-the-ground assistance to returning Vietnam veterans made it clear that many of them would need long-term assistance readjusting to civilian life. This spawned the establishment of the Readjustment Counseling Service (ie, the Vet Center program) to provide ongoing services to combat veterans who may be having difficulty making the transition back to civilian life - and, uniquely, the services are run by counselors who themselves are combat veterans.But the influx of veterans from Vietnam put strains on a system that hadn’t seen significant investment in physical infrastructure since the end of WWII. VA’s medical budget tripled between 1967 and 1977, and its rehabilitation and education spending increased ten-fold.In 1977, the Veterans’ Administration commissioned the creation of an electronic health record that could be used across its hospitals, as veterans’ paper-based records were too prone to being lost or inadvertently destroyed[3][4]. This was America’s first electronic health record, and for a long time the only one of its scale anywhere in the world. It was designed to have a core architecture that could be modded by individual hospitals to meet their own needs.It was so successful - and free to the public, having been created by the US government - that in 1988 the Department of Defense awarded a $1 billion contract (~$2.1 billion today) to copy the system for its own purposes, and make that copy totally proprietary.…Yes, you are reading that correctly. DoD paid $1 billion to take a perfectly functioning, free electronic health records system that was already US government property to make a private copy.Oh, and they managed to make it worse in the process[5].That created a decades long tech schism that defied both Congress and successive Presidents to resolve. It’s even spawned its own, little bridge bureaucracy[6].So now, with DoD and VA having failed to get along (and even failing to make use of the Bridge Bureaucracy[7]), both Departments’ records systems are being put in the hands of a single, private provider[8] (and lots of other happy tech vendors[9]).Because in no way, shape, or form will entrusting the private sector to reform the largest electronic health records systems, arguably, in the world lead to any kind of cost overruns[10] or become an attractive target for ne’er-do-wells[11].Nope.Anyway, how does all this support my position that merging DoD and VA is a bad idea to ensure continuity of care?A major takeaway from the experience of Vietnam veterans’ return to the US is, to be quite blunt, that the military gives very few shits about its people once they’re no longer connected to military operations.The Department of Defense and the services have one overarching goal: combat readiness - to train and support war fighters. Once they’re no longer in or supporting combat operations, then as far as Defense is concerned, you’re no longer their issue[12] .Going back to TAP, the law requires that DoD ensure that all servicemembers complete the course more than 90 days before they separate. This is because servicemembers often complained that, frequently, they weren’t made to take TAP courses until their very last two days in the service - the two days that their minds were very much elsewhere.However, despite both the legal requirement and the length of time afforded to separating servicemembers to complete the training, more than half of servicemembers don’t complete the training until their last 90 days, with DoD doing the baremost to monitor compliance[13] .And going back to the (ongoing) debacle of VA-DoD records inter-operability, a major issue was that VA didn’t have the political clout to go toe-to-toe with DoD on the issue.The Veterans Administration did not become the Cabinet-level, Department of Veterans’ Affairs until 1989[14] [15]. And while the previous Administrator position still required Senate confirmation, it didn’t share anywhere near the prestige (which, in Washington, equals power) as a Secretary appointment.If you were to fold the Department of Veterans’ Affairs into the Department of Defense, well, you can’t have co-Secretaries; and given that DoD has higher precedence than VA, VA would be bumped down the chain. You would be organizationally sending the message that veterans are less important than the active Armed Forces.And if there were ever a conflict between the Secretary of Defense and the now-Under Secretary of Veterans’ Affairs, the Under Secretary would basically be stuffed. They wouldn’t have direct access to the President or Congress to get their point of view across without being seen as undermining their boss.VA and DoD don’t need to be under the same umbrella to provide lifetime continuity of care. They just need to be on the same page when it comes to collecting and sharing data on servicemembers’ health history (which they mostly are[16]), at which point the VA can take over and focus on long-term care while DoD concerns itself with readiness.And if the assumption is that having everyone in the same organization will break down silos and improve the flow of data, well, that’s not grounded in the reality of the inner workings of America’s largest bureaucracies[17] [18].Of all the possible ways I could think to reform VA and DoD to improve information sharing and continuity of services, merging the two Departments would be an act of desperation at the bottom of the list.Footnotes[1] Carter Moore's answer to What was Shays' Rebellion?[2] Carter Moore's answer to How disastrous to the US would it be if all war veterans benefits got slashed to zero?[3] The 1973 Fire, National Personnel Records Center[4] A 40-year 'conspiracy' at the VA[5] AHLTA users sound off about military EHR system[6] VA Information Technology[7] EHR interoperability for VA and DoD, who’s responsible? Lawmakers, officials can't agree[8] VA picks Cerner to replace VistA; Trump says EHR will fix agency's data sharing 'once and for all'[9] Cerner reveals long list of VA EHR modernization partners[10] DoD raises budget on Leidos contract for Cerner EHR project by $1.2 billion[11] U.S. data breaches and exposed records 2018 | Statistic[12] 126,000 service members in crosshairs for separation as DoD’s ‘deploy or get out’ policy takes effect[13] Transitioning Veterans: DOD Needs to Improve Performance Reporting and Monitoring for the Transition Assistance Program[14] Reagan Would Elevate V.A. to Cabinet Level[15] Reagan signs bill creating veterans department[16] https://www.health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Access-Cost-Quality-and-Safety/Access-to-Healthcare/DoD-VA-Sharing-Initiatives/Separation-Health-Assessment[17] https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2018/11/14/dod_and_the_cloud__moving_out_bureaucracy_to_focus_on_national_security_113956.html[18] After A Year Of Turmoil, New VA Secretary Says 'Waters Are Calmer'

Why Everyone is Hurt by Military FakersI am an honorably discharged Marine with two tours to Iraq and when I look at clowns like this I have to ask myself, "What are you thinking, dude?" I'll leave it to any Marine reading this to suppress their rage long enough to point out the numerous errors in this man's uniform, as well as his judgement. That isn't the point of this article, though. What I'm more curious about is the question posed here - “What harm do people who fake military service actually cause?” and more to my concerns, why exactly do we as veterans get so up in arms when idiots brazenly wear our uniforms to receive some false sense of recognition? While I don't disagree with many of the other answers most of us have heard, I do think there is something deeper that ought to be explored in the question. The point of this is to deal with the question, "Who does it really bother if some moron goes parading down the street pretending to be something they aren't?" At first it doesn't seem like much. Vets who have done impressive things should reasonably have enough pride in their achievements to brush off someone pretending to be something special. It would seem that way, but in truth, most veterans feel vehement about this, and for good reason. It isn't just them; the practice hurts everyone, including you.The MilitaryWhen you look upon an American warrior, be it a Marine on active duty or a veteran who long ago put away his boots, you are expected to not feel fear. The uniforms of active duty troops are clean, crisp, and tight. They aren't the rags of bloodthirsty brutes, nor of barbaric brawlers. Instead, the uniforms showcase a proud and poised warrior, displaying quiet, vigilant dignity. Their meticulously polished and perfectly aligned medals and ribbons demonstrate their vigorous attention to detail, an allusion to the care and precision they apply in their chosen profession and amplifying the impact which these decorations represent. When one looks upon such a person, they aren't meant to feel fear. Instead, when one is afforded the chance to see someone like a Marine in Dress Blues, they are meant to see the warrior for what he is, a proud civil servant and someone to be respected, admired, and appreciated for those trinkets he so precisely, and nobly wears.And then you see some dummy making the whole service look like flipping morons. The sad fact is, most people can't tell the difference between this joker and the outstanding example of a human being meticulously described previously. They don't really notice that the medals are all in the wrong places. They don't really understand the importance of one badge or other. They don't really get that... there is no way that guy is old enough to be a Sergeant Major.When they pick up women, get drunk and start a fight at some scuzzy bar, commit crimes, or just hang out at the mall to get attention, while wearing the uniform, people notice. They see these guys act unprofessionally, some of them downright atrociously, and civilians think to themselves, "Are these the people who are supposed to be protecting me and my family?"That's significant. One military idiom I learned to respect in the military goes like this, "Perception is reality." What that statement means is that the truth doesn't really matter. Most of the time, you aren't going to get a fair trial, and what people put together in the first few moments will determine your guilt or innocence in most things. It's an ugly truth. It is something that most of us can look back upon when we are wronged, and know it to be the truth.This applies to Stolen Valor cases. The actions of an idiot in a fake uniform affect the way that people view the military as a whole. The man himself may be forgotten. But people’s perception of the military will have changed for the worse.Absent that aura of the proud professional warrior and the civilized war-fighter that the properly worn uniform produces, you just have an arrogant, ignorant person who, to you, is the one going out and killing in your name. No one wants a fool to be a warrior. No one wants a moron with a gun going out and representing them overseas. No one wants to empower undeserving people. That is what they feel has happened when they see this person. They don't realize that he isn't a soldier, but just a liar in disguise.The ramifications of this are severe, though. In a ripple effect, this belief in the unfit warrior has a way of making its way into policy. It takes the form of a civilian population disenchanted with the military. They lose faith in military effectiveness, demanding cutbacks in funding and operational scope. They stop supporting troops actions and efforts overseas, sometimes pushing for dangerous reforms because faith in the military was lost. Sometimes it can result in the limitation of the liberties of warriors, making their lives just a little bit more unpleasant because of the perception that they can't be trusted. Finally, it deals the greatest blow to our legacy. People turn their kids away from joining the military and push them in other, sometimes far worse, directions, simply because they are afraid of what they believe their kids will become—killers without a sense of dignity and honor.This is the significance that the uniform has to you the civilian. We didn't design those monkey suits just to look at each other. We did that for you. We did that so that you would look at us and feel safe, not afraid. It is designed to make you proud of them. What it means to the individual warrior is something altogether different.The Uniform as a MetaphorAs I said before, you'd think that military veterans wouldn't really care that much about people impersonating them. I mean, these guys were professional warriors and the closest thing to modern day superheroes that our world has to offer... and they know it. Why would they care so much about someone pretending to be them? I know that a lot of veterans are angry that I would even ask that question, but it's OK, put away the knife-hands gentlemen. I'm about to explain.As a regular person, you might not know why the Marine pictured above is crying. You'd probably assume he is going to a funeral or about to leave home for the first time and off to war. That's because your view of him is based on stereotypes, along with just a few lies. You would be wrong.This young recruit is about to take part in a culminating event of recruit training, the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor Ceremony. The EGA is the emblem of the United States Marine Corps and only Marines are entitled to wear it. For the last three months, this recruit has been in Marine Corps Boot Camp, but he was not a Marine. He, like all the other recruits with him, aren't considered Marines until after they completed training. They were called "recruits" and suffered the hardships, trials, and indignities which come with the moniker. Once they finished Boot Camp, more properly, once they had received their EGA, only then will they have "earned the title" of United States Marine.It's a particularly religious moment for our odd little cult of warriors. For many, receiving the EGA, and by extension the honor of being Marine, is the proudest moment of their lives. It is the moment, for so many of them, which truly gave their lives meaning. Many of my friends who joined the Marines had no direction, no purpose, and no dreams for the future. They didn't have a sense of agency, the belief that their decisions mattered. They were just riding the waves. They were far more likely to end up in prison than to be looked upon with honor by their community. The Marine Corps, for many of my friends, gave them that sense of being part of something that mattered. If I were to attempt a guess, I'd say that the young man pictured above is crying because, for the first time, he is part of a community of people who matter, one which is honorable, and respected because of what they mean to the world and the citizens which they are drawn from.That said, while all members of the military may not take it as far as the fanaticism demonstrated by Marines, they all share a common bond, which is signified by their uniform. The uniform, as I made clear earlier, is an artifact and not a mere article of clothing. To many, it is the symbol that links them to a time of greater meaning in their lives. It showcases honorable ideals and virtues they are proud to see when they look upon others who wear it today. What's more? Every device, every ribbon, every medal, every shooting badge, like the uniform itself, is earned as a product of recruit training, important missions, special schools, and years of honorable service.What's more important is what it symbolizes long after service. For many veterans, upon leaving the military, there is a period of mild, or even severe depression. This can even manifest in a longing to return not just to the military, but to war itself. Sebastian Junger, an embedded journalist with an Army unit in Afghanistan and creator of the documentary Restrepo, has had much to say on the question of why would a veteran miss something like war.About a year later I invited Brendan [one of the soldiers Junger knew in Afghanistan] to a dinner party, and a woman asked him if he missed anything at all about life at the outpost. It was a good question: the platoon had endured a year without Internet, running water or hot food and had been in more combat than almost any platoon in the United States military. By any measure it was hell, but Brendan didn’t hesitate: “Ma’am,” he said, “I miss almost all of it.”Civilians are often confused, if not appalled, by that answer. The idea that a psychologically healthy person could miss war seems an affront to the idea that war is evil. Combat is supposed to feel bad because undeniably bad things happen in it, but a fully human reaction is far more complex than that. If we civilians don’t understand that complexity, we won’t do a very good job of bringing these people home and making a place for them in our society.The New York TimesJunger has his beliefs, but as someone who has also experienced much of the same feelings, I think there is more. As I said before, depression after leaving the military is a very real phenomena that unfortunately embraces the lives of far too many of us. This phenomena, in my opinion, is often misdiagnosed by society at large as PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It isn't that. Most of us never saw combat, though that isn't the only thing that can cause PTSD. Regardless of whether or not we saw combat, death, or destruction on the scales people often assume we did, most of us don't show any of the normal symptoms of PTSD at all. We are just depressed. The failure of society to recognize this distinction has caused great anguish in veterans and hasn't eased the strain on any of us.The reason so many of us are depressed during the period of our lives we had been looking forward to for years is perplexing. One would think the ease of lifestyle would help make us happy. They would be wrong. Perhaps it is the loss of community we feel, as Junger notes in a TEDx talk on the subject; or the sadness for our participation in acts our society doesn't wholly understand or approve of, a theory held by former Army Ranger and Professor of Psychology of West Point, Lt. Col Dave Grossman. A third, by a professor of Ethics at the United States Naval Academy, Shannon French, postulates that returning veterans aren't getting the cool down time WWII vets would have had while spending months in close quarters with their fellow survivors on a small ship before finally arriving home after the war. They would spend this time speaking with other members who knew well what they were enduring and going through, an important element lacking in most modern counseling programs for veterans. There is an axiom that pain shared is pain divided. The fact that sixteen hour international flights had yet to be realized for the average soldier was, in effect, a form of forced mass therapy that is overlooked today.I personally think that there is something simpler than that. Imagine that you will never be awesome again in your life. I know it sounds stupid, but imagine that the coolest thing you will ever do, the thing which the most people will praise and admire you for, you've already done. Ronald Reagan put it succinctly with his quote that “Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem.” But, what happens after you are a man in the uniformed services? Imagine a soldier who comes to this realization, whether explicitly or subconsciously, "I will never be half the person I was in Iraq."It's a depressing aspect and one that is hard to communicate. I guess you could consider it like having a midlife crisis at twenty-two. It comes with a loss of agency: you no longer feel like your decisions will ever matter again. You're now just another nobody. I think the best person I have ever heard describe this was a stockbroker friend of mine who used to be a professional athlete. He was injured early in his prime and never was able to compete again. The two of us talked about this sensation of "loss of awesome" when he talked about going from being a pro-athlete to doling out cups of coffee and the depressing state of mind that held. He even told another story about a fellow stockbroker who hit a massive pay-day - $75 million; more than the vast majority of us could even fathom. His colleague though, didn't seem as ecstatic as my friend thought he should have been. My friend left all his coworkers celebrating and asked the now multicentimillionaire why he wasn't that happy about the team's achievement. He said to my friend,"I am happy. It's just that there are other things. I am on my third wife and I have six kids, all who I don't know and who hate me."Sympathizing, he asked, "Why don't you just retire?"After a pause, the old stockbroker said, "Because if I leave here, I'm nothing."I think this the loss that warriors feel. One does not just go back to being normal after being a warrior. A part of you is forever changed, for better or worse and there is no returning to the person who isn't still, in part, a warrior. But what is a warrior without a war? To many of them, they are just has-beens. What the uniform, to these individuals, signifies is a time when their lives had value. It symbolizes a time when their choices mattered. For the lucky ones who find meaningful purpose after the military, it is still something that signifies a time in their lives they were very passionate about, a defining time, and one which has elements they will always miss. Maybe it is just nostalgia, because after time fades the emotional wounds that military service often inflicts, you're left with a great sense of pride no matter what the circumstances. Seeing the uniform abused, as is done by many, is an abuse on the warrior personally. It is an abuse on a large part of his self - that identity he had so emotionally vested into those garments and medallions. The uniform is a metaphor for so many other things that military services represents to the veteran. Many are indescribable, and seeing it worn by someone who hasn't earned the title, hasn't suffered the indignities and hardships, is a slap in the face to many who have. This is why recognition is so important, something I will be talking about in the next section.The Role of RecognitionI am very privileged to live near the city of Gainesville, Texas. There, every year, they have numerous reenactments and even play host to the annual Medal of Honor Parade. It is a celebration in honor of the 67 living Medal of Honor recipients, 16 of whom, were present at this year's parade. To those who have been, it is a spectacle like no other small town has ever endeavored to achieve. Between the recipients in era vehicles commemorating their wars from World War II to Afghanistan, to the rebuilt bombers, fighter planes, and attack helicopters buzzing California Street and the Braums Ice Cream store, it is a truly memorable day for anyone lucky enough to grace it.Parades like this have fallen out of fashion for most of America. Memorial Day is little more than a good time to go to the lake and enjoy a three day weekend. The sales are also really great, I hear. Veterans Day, more of the same with a simple nod to those guys who did stuff most people don't care to question somewhere "Over There". To veterans, though, it is a time to reflect and be rejuvenated. They get to experience that sense of community with fellows like them. They get to look back with nostalgia at that moment when they first became a Marine, or a sailor, an airman, or a soldier. Ceremonies like this renew their pride in themselves and their continued worth as individuals to society. They look at those young warriors, those marching along in their old uniforms and they see everything good about their time in service. They see those young guys and they know these are important individuals, which reminds them that they are too. They feel all this, simply because they see the uniform they once wore, marching proudly down the street.That said, I do get the temptation to attach yourself to the few moments of appreciation a year that veterans are afforded. Many of these people who go so far as to fake military achievements are pretty worthless. I'm not saying that as just a harsh attack. People like this feel very little self-worth because they truly have very little to offer to society. That's why they lie. That's really why anybody lies about anything. They've done nothing with their lives and no one appreciates them for anything. They want to feel heroic for once. They want to feel pride for once. They see people thanking us and think it must be great to feel like that. In truth, our feelings are far more complicated than that, but I can understand what they think. We all want to feel like someone we admire, but we don't cross the line to feel that way.People want to get as much of the warrior experience now-a-days as they can, without actually being warriors. They recognize certain qualities of troops and want to distill it and harness that for their own use. Yes, fraudulent people who dress in military uniforms do this, but so does everyone else. Consider how often you've heard of physical training courses. What used to be called "X-treme" is now called "Boot Camp". Housewives and office jockies attempt this training because they think two hours of strenuous exercise with a clown yelling at them is synonymous with the boot camp experience for military recruits. It's the same with programming boot camp. Is that the three month course where you are completely transformed into a new mindset and frame of reference? No - it's just an overpriced two week intensive training session on a new programming language. That's not a boot camp. I was even recently asked How do I train myself like a Navy Seal? and the details of the question:I'm not planning to join the army but I'm trying to study and adopt the mindset of those people, since they have totally mastered themselves and be able to overcome almost any situation with intense focus, dedication and discipline. If we could learn from them, we can apply the same to reach any kind of goals, dedicate ourselves to some great ideals and become a better person of values.What are the some of the practices a normal person can include in everyday life which can replicate the mind and body of a Navy SEAL? Like Mediation, Reading, Workout?I made a very clear point that if you want to be a SEAL, or a warrior in general, you pretty much have to accept the need to kill people, and endeavour to do so. All the other attributes come as secondary. After you say things like that, the air in the room changes. Still, questions like this will never stop coming. "How can I get the best version of the military experience, without actually doing all the military stuff they have to do?"Of course, then there are always those who want to capture the sense of awesome that is associated with those who do great things.It isn't that I don't understand why this sort of thing happens. People draw false comparisons, particularly among professional athletes and celebrities. Pictured above, you see 50 cent who took the short lived "military cliche" to its absolute most extreme. I say short lived, because he and dozens of other celebs were publicly accosted for the affront to military sensibilities their poor judgement brought about. Another case I remember was of an NFL commercial where a CG player dressed in a cammie jersey pattern ran through explosions and bombs dropping or some other nonsense, to reach the touchdown. That made no sense either.I feel that the real reason that there is so much "branding" going on is that these groups and individuals prize certain aspects of the military experience and want to attach themselves to the military's brand. That brand, to many if not most people, means things like "dangerous" or "aggressive", or even "killer", among other things. Such a brand really stands out to those wishing to promote those lower brain functions and gain an audience wishing to see just that. Others associate the military experience with ideas like "high achiever", "hard worker", "heroic", or "brave". Though positive at least, people want to borrow these attributes to augment their personal brands. Celebrities like 50 Cent and Justin Bieber do this by comparing themselves to "soldiers" fighting in a "war" or "battle". They want to borrow the image of dangerous men or of those who suffer to lend that image, and some fallacy of depth, to their music. Even Tom Cruise's press secretary compared the struggles he faces when making a movie "like being on a military deployment to Afghanistan." Professional athletes do it all the time by comparing a sport where the whole world stops if they twist an ankle to the battlefield.Veterans don't appreciate this. Borrowing something like the idea of the military isn't something people should do lightly, especially when it involves the wearing of the uniform. These are earned and it would be comparable to the feeling these individuals get when they get their first major contract or are accepted into a team that few people ever get to play for. Frankly, even considering this, the comparisons are actually incredibly shallow. If you are successful as a celebrity or athlete, your college or hometown will build a statue for you, a practice few in the military have enjoyed since about the time professional sports became mainstream. You pretty much have to die to get that honor in the military. Celebrities are also part of an elite group which almost no one in the general population could ever hope to be a part of because they enjoy a rather miraculous and inequitable doling out of specific talents. Veterans aren't this way. They are simply ordinary people who have elected to do extraordinary things—for mediocre compensation, I might add. Celebrities have every wish carried out by an army of support staff dedicated to ensuring that they are adequately happy enough to sign a new contract. They play a sport... a game... sing songs... or professionally play make believe. They entertain. Sometimes injuries are common in sports, but if there is ever a death it is National news. Same for if Angelina Jolie were to actually break her leg. They are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars if not millions to stand in people's way, catch or throw a ball, run, sing, act, or dance on a stage. Many of them are little more than spoiled brats with no virtue other than one single inhuman talent which has driven them to an unprecedented level of success and arrogance. This in no way compares to what a member of the military feels on virtually every level, so celebrities should just never try to aggrandize themselves further by drawing the false comparison that they are in any way comparable to a true warrior.I get that people want to be recognized. They want to appear special, and everyone, no matter how special already, wants to feel more so. One of the easiest ways to do this is to borrow something special from someone else. People can feel special by doing just about anything military like and get that sense of, "Now I'm special too." Everyone wants to be thanked for something special and everyone wants the parade to be for them. So some steal the recognition. It can be overt and explicit, such as the jokers who try to receive thank yous and recognition at parades; or it can be more pernicious and subversive, such as aggrandizing difficult training as a "boot camp", or wearing a Marine Corps jacket and calling yourself a soldier as a fashion statement to "show respect to troops" who have made it abundantly clear that they despise this form of acknowledgement. Either way, all of these diminish the role that recognition plays in our lives as veterans. It helps continue negative, or at least incorrect stereotypes about us and undervalues the worth we have. Dan Rosenthal said it marvelously in his answer to this same question.... You end up with a public that doesn't understand, nor has any concept of the daily life and routine of the average soldier. They end up thinking that every soldier is on the front lines and faces death every day, and as a result, the IT technical specialist who works from an air conditioned bunker on an air base feels devalued.When the military and veterans can't be recognized as valued individuals with unique and useful skills, mentalities, and a history of service because they don't have enough medals, or their story isn't cool enough, how can they ever rejoin their society again? How can they ever build on it, when society doesn't understand them and is always bombarded with these fake versions of valor and what it means to be a modern day warrior? This is the role of recognition. It makes warriors feel like real people again, valued, and even necessary again because they have an honored and important place in this world. If that place is diluted with false accounts of what the military experience is, than the hole that society wants them to fill will never fit, and the veterans will continue to fall through the cracks.Loss to the CitizensLastly, the citizens themselves suffer when someone falsely wears a uniform that they didn't earn. As I mentioned earlier, they are the ones whose opinions are being formed by these people, rather than real warriors. In some cases, this in the forming of negative stereotypes because of nasty individuals trying to pick up girls of loose morals and poor judgment. In other cases, however, it is people who tell the greatest stories. These people can tell you of the battles they have fought and the lives they lost. They tell you the story every man wants to be a part of and of their great, though humble, heroism. These people push the limits of what is humanly achievable. Yes, while there are truly heroic cases that exist of great valor in the armed services, there is also a flood of people who have completely blown the common understanding of what it means to be a warrior. Civilians will ask questions like "did you kill anybody?" and be disappointed when you tell them "No." Many people have no understanding of the real lives of warriors because the fakers have led them to believe in myth over reality. This robs the civilian listener more than the veteran in my opinion, because they miss out on the value of real veterans. Real ones will never live up to the legend created by the guys who just made it up.Perhaps more importantly though, is the real heart of the matter and why the Stolen Valor Act was passed, not once, but twice.The Stolen Valor Act of 2013 (Pub.L. 113–12; H.R. 258) is a United States federal law that was passed by the 113th United States Congress. The law amends the federal criminal code to make it a crime for a person to fraudulently claim having received any of a series of particular military decorations with the intention of obtaining money, property, or other tangible benefit from convincing someone that he or she rightfully did receive that award.The commonly held belief is that people dressed as military people just walk around all day and collect thank yous. While this happens, as I have shown often, the majority of problems dealing with fakers surrounds people fraudulently filing for benefits they do not rate. These aren't people who ever go out in public. They are simply con-artists. Consider the state of disability among military veterans. To get a grip on how much is at stake here, in his budget proposal for fiscal year 2009, President George W. Bush requested $38.7 billion for veteran medical care alone. Most of us who were deployed rate something. I rate 10% disability for service connected back injury and hearing loss from working around guns, which gives me a small stipend every month to pay for medical care. While this is small in my case, it can be grievous in the case of others. For example, if you can produce evidence of 100% disability and that you have three dependents in your care, your compensation from the United States Department of Veteran Affairs can reach $3,447.72 a month. I am not saying that is a good thing. That level of injury is staggering, but if all you have to do is fake the paperwork... that is a free ride for life. One case I have heard of involved a Vietnam Era "Colonel" Hamilton receiving over $30,000 in undeserved VA disability compensation. It seems that he never actually served at all. This doesn't even include getting paid to receive a college education, guaranteed housing and business loans, as well as receiving discounts to various businesses and services for being a veteran. Frankly, if all you have to do is fill out the paperwork the right way, there is a lot of money to be had and that poses a tempting target for scammers. I'd like to know the exact figures, but given the bloated VA backlog and the poor resources to investigate such abuses, we are looking at a multi-billion dollar fraud industry.I'm sure at this point, I don't have to make it clearer how this hurts all of us. While somewhere around eight years ago I used to be just a lowly Corporal, mucking it up in Al Anbar Province Iraq, now my day job is as a teacher in one of the poorest regions of the country. Every day I see good kids who don't have enough books to take home and study. I see buses and facilities in disrepair and not enough teachers to cover all the classes. Leave the school and you have roads that haven't been properly repaired in years and a hospital you are afraid to go to because you might die. It isn't that anyone in the town isn't doing a good job, it is simply that we could use help. As I drive home down Main Street and look at its decay, I think about how we will never get that help because there are so many out there getting by simply from doing nothing, living off government payouts such as those I have listed. While I know that all the problems of a small town won't be solved by cutting entitlement benefits to freeloaders, and while I know that fraudulent veteran payouts only account for a small percentage of the total entitlements being paid out, there are people who need and deserve it more. I think most people, even non-veterans can see this, but many veterans especially, having already made great sacrifices for their country, view the freeloader mentality, and especially the scam artists, as a particularly abhorrent form of vermin.Veterans - What to Do About ItEvery month or so, I'll see in my feeds a new person "Getting put on blast" for getting caught faking military service. That's what we call it when a faker is caught red handed and a photo or video gets posted to social media. It's sort of the holy grail for many vets and active duty service members to find some guy pretending to be a SEAL at the bar, or a soldier in cammies at the airport, or a Marine in dress blues. They all want to be that guy who catches them on camera and for it go viral as they are humiliated for thousands... millions to see. We want to deliver that divine sense of justice to teach those nasty liars a lesson.To all the veterans out there, I really want you to take a look at this person. Please take a good, hard look at him. Not his uniform, but the man standing there.Is this not a pathetic looking human being? When you look into his eyes, I mean really look at them, does your sense of anger not subside when you realize just how miserable he had to be to do this? Does it not appear obvious that he, himself, is aware of how pathetic he is to attempt this stunt? What hole must exist in his life that he would try so desperately, so failingly, to fill it like this? How angry can you really be at a person like this?Angry enough to ruin the rest of his life? Do you think this picture is going anywhere? Do you think his name won't forever be attached to it? Should one incredibly stupid, incredibly insensitive act of jackassery, one mistake, define a person's entire life from then on? Think back on your time in service. I've dragged many a drunken Lance Corporal through the parking lots of Camp Pendleton, CA, some covered in vomit, some in their own urine. These people are now all proud veterans, but each have made incredibly stupid mistakes, all of which have been forgiven. But do we forgive others? No we don't. Finding them out and making a public spectacle of them is sort of our thing now that the wars are over.It's gotten so bad that Terminal Lance, the online comic strip put out by Marine Corps veteran Max Uriarte, famed for its abrasive, sometimes caustic satire on military and veteran life, even did a strip on how vehement we can be in this regard. It demonstrates "that guy", one we all know, making a royal jackass of himself that I would like all veterans to really think about.I'll be honest, when all of us turn into that guy, we are making a bigger show of what the military isn't than anything most of these guys have achieved. We come off as petty and self-righteous which is against our proud and humble heritage. Most of the guys who would do this are just losers who aren't worthy of our blood pressure (which, face facts, is a problem for most of us.) Putting someone on blast for being stupid isn't the answer, and in the end, only ends up doubling the number of jerks in the room. To be honest, that moment of self-satisfaction isn't worth it when you come to find out you lost that poor loser his job, or maybe that, in his shame, he ate a bullet. At the very least, no mistake should last forever, which is exactly what happens when you immortalize someone's mistake online.Seriously though, it's getting to be a problem, such a problem that many of us are nervous about speaking out online for the threat of being called out for Stolen Valor incorrectly. It happened to one Army Captain, Lindsay Lowery, who was humiliated after being called out for pretending that she took part in more action than she really did. She faced numerous insults, both as a person faking their service and, simply, for being a woman in the military. As the truth turned out, everything she said was the absolute truth and even her commissioning officer vouched to make that point known. Sadly, once the truth came out, the rebuttal didn't go nearly as viral as did the initial onslaught of hate directed her way unjustly. People like me, people who write extensively online about military experiences we've had, have taken the lesson to heart, "Perception is Reality." I keep a blacked-out DD-214, the form pretty much validating anything I need to prove, available upon request for whenever someone finally makes that jump of doubting anything I have to say to the point that I need to prove myself, before the lie goes viral. It's a sad truth, but this is what our culture, the veteran culture, is turning into.Instead, I wish more people would make fun of it. Seriously, make people aware of the phenomena in a way that educates people while not looking like a self-important jerk about it. These guys at Ranger Up, a YouTube channel put out by some Army veterans, did a great job of it. Very funny.Where it happens online, somewhere it is way too easy to fake military knowledge and experience, I think we have a case study on how to handle it. Tymon Kapelski, one of the newest contributors to Defense Quorum, Quora's military interests blog, recently posted a piece showcasing a military faker here on Quora. This person fabricated a special operations story that showcased the beauty of the human condition to come together in a time of common human suffering. The problem? It could never have possibly happened. The time tables made no sense and there has never be a conflict where these combatants would have been that close to one another for this story to have taken place. It was complete fiction. The bigger problem? It had already been upvoted more than 1,400 times and seen by many thousands of people.What Tymon, among others, did was to confront the individual separately and politely, in the comments section. They said that there were some problems with the answer that they wanted to know about the event, and more about the individual in question. Receiving push-back from the author, and eventually seeing challenging comments get deleted. Some went on the investigation and dug up evidence that this individual not only couldn't have been in the battle he said happened, but had he been, he would have been 14 at the time. Seeing that the individual wasn't budging, he made his concern public to the veteran community at Defense Quorum. From there, the concern was posted to the Top Writer's board on Facebook and the admins took care of making sure that the answer disappeared forever, as has the author who fabricated it. Nice job Tymon and the DQ. This is the second such Quora Stolen Valor case I've been a part of, the other with the help of Sam Morningstar which went pretty much the same way. Both of these cases, I would urge others to take up as examples of civil confrontations between potential stolen valor cases and the rest of the community.As for what to do if you see someone out in town doing something stupid? For all the rest of us, when and if we see one, I wish that instead of grabbing a buddy with a camera, we would instead pull the dude over (perhaps assertively so) and just say to the guy."Look, we know what you're doing and you need to stop. It is against the law to claim some of things you've done and you need to stop. Go away now or we will make it clear to everyone here that you are lying about your military service."If they fight you or resist your warning... whatever. Do what you gotta do.Thanks for reading!For more answers like this check out The Veteran Perspective by Jon Davis and follow my blog War Elephant for more new content. Everything I write is completely independent research and is supported by fan and follower pledges. Please consider showing your support directly by visiting my Patreon support page here: Jon Davis on Patreon: Help support in writing Military Novels, Articles, and Essays.