Vietnam War Wannabes

Trade

Well-known Member
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com/wannabe1.htm

"The common lie told to friends (and particularly girlfriends and wives) by Vietnam War wannabes(a group that continues to outnumber actual in-country Vietnam War veterans by twenty to one [f1], is that they cannot produce a DD-214 or other military-issued documents confirming their (heroic/valorous) service in Vietnam because their military record files "remain classified" due to their "top secret" assignments in Vietnam.

Of course, those of us who actually served in Vietnam and held equal or higher than SECRET security clearances know well that security classifications were/are always on a need-to-know basis as well as sharply defined and limited to specific operations or assignments. And never, in any case, is/was a military 201 jacket (or individual personnel file) classified in full. But what many Americans don't know is that all Vietnam War records have been de-classified for over 13 years since 1994... and there is no, repeat not a single, Vietnam War incident, operation, mission, or military person who's activities remain classified since 10 November 1994."
 

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https://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/01/02/vietnam-veterans-and-the-wannabes/
"The accepted number of Vietnam Veterans that served are between 2.7 million and 3.3 million men who also includes about 10,000 women. The number of personnel that are considered to be Vietnam era Veterans, those that served during the Vietnam War but NOT in-country are 9,087,000. Official census figures for August 1995 showed 1,713,823 Vietnam Veterans were still living. According to the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation, individuals falsely claiming to have served in the Vietnam War for those same statistics totaled 9,492,958 people! Again, according to the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation, the figures of people claiming to be Vietnam Veterans, serving in-country, for the 2000 census count was 13,853,027. That sounds, “unbelievable,” but it is very believable to me having come upon many of these WANNABE’S since the attitude in this country has done a complete turn around about Vietnam Veterans by many citizens."
 

One of the local newsmen on a local TV station made a comment about his being a Vietnam Vet. Someone took the time to look up his record and couldn’t find anything, so the guy called him out to produce his DD-214 or anything that he may have as proof.

When he admitted that he had lied, the station fired him.

I never understood why anyone would lie about being a Vietnam Vet, which was probably the most unpopular war in our history. People back then did not look at us as heroes. I never thought of myself as a hero. Today, we call all of our servicemen and women heroes.
 
An acquaintance down the path invited my wife and me for dinner, along with a very military family.
The host, known for sporting Vietnam Veteran caps and jackets, and always talking about exploits in the bush, blurted out that he was a POW.

A really dumb story ensued.

His wife stated ‘so that’s what’s wrong with you’

I began to feel real bad for him and his obvious out and out lie.

Things got rather uncomfortable as his story grew larger than even his girth.

My military friend and I couldn’t look at each other in the eye across the table, while Ramboob rattled on.

Later, found out his MOS was clerk typist, spent his tour in Germany.

It sent me back to grade school days when kids would manufacture glorious histories and exploits…at 10 yrs of age
 
I never served, which makes me an easy target for the wannabes. I wouldn't know a DD214 from third base. But I am surprised that so many folks were "special OPs", what ever that is.
 
When I was staioned in Europe in the '60s, the news I got from Stars & Stripes and commander's call was that the war was going along well and we were kicking their ass.
 
When I was staioned in Europe in the '60s, the news I got from Stars & Stripes and commander's call was that the war was going along well and we were kicking their ass.

By the end of my tour in 1971 we knew that as soon as we were all gone the NVA would over run the place.
 
By the end of my tour in 1971 we knew that as soon as we were all gone the NVA would over run the place.

During one of our “rah rah” talks, as we called them, our Captain made a Freudian slip. While giving us our motivational speech, he says, “Although this war is not winnable, we need to keep blah, blah, blah.”

Why in God’s name would a superior officer ever tell his men something like that? He knew he screwed up by the looks on the men’s faces. He tried to sham his way out of what he said, but it’s tough to take a statement like that back.

After he was done speaking and took off in his Jeep, the Lt. tells us we have the rest of the day off, so he can study the plans he was just handed. A day off? No one gets a day off in a war zone.
 
Fortunately, I never saw any combat, but while in Thailand in 1967, I saw several F105's come back with substantial damage....and we had a dozen, or more, which never made it back. I remember one young pilot who came by the radar shop one day to use the mockup before his first combat mission, the next day. It was his First, and Only mission....I still think about him.
 
I spent 1968-72 in the US Navy, as a Corpsman (Medic). I was never in harms way. I always had hot meals and a warm bed. Surprisingly, I never step foot on a ship, I was always stationed in Navy hospitals. I'm considered a Vietnam Veteran, due to the dates I served. But I don't consider myself as one. When well meaning people thank me for my service, I acknowledge it. Yet, rather than me, I wish they thank those, who gave up much more than I. They truly deserve admiration.
I have to say I ran into a "special ops" type, who never left New Jersey. Bullets fell out of his pockets when he got change. And for the good of the nation, his lips are still sealed. He just couldn't say where in "Nam" he had been. I remember that turkey.
 
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By the end of my tour in 1971 we knew that as soon as we were all gone the NVA would over run the place.

After only a short time in country, I realized we could not win this war. Our hands were tied politicians trying to micro-manage the fight. Second, by my time in country (1969-70), we were slowly pulling back from seeking out the enemy and instead were turning over duties to the ARVN army. (I always smile when I mention ARVN soldiers... you had to be there to understand). And lastly, I put myself in the Vietnamese people's mind. Would you not fight to the death if someone was trying to over run and conquer America?
 
My enlistment was over in late'68. The re-enlistment offer they gave me was a re-enlistment bonus and re-assignment to the "tropics" as he put it. Young naive me thought he meant somewere around the Caribbean. Now I'm wondering what he meant by the "tropics." I declined and got out.
 
I'm not an expert, nor a Veteran, so someone please correct me if I am wrong, but I think of Special Operations as activities which are covert and utilize "unconventional" activities.
Or, perhaps, your question is rhetorical?

Navy Seals, Army Rangers, Green Berets, Delta Force and Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance are the Special Ops that immediately come to mind. I spent some time in Recon as a Marine, but not the Special Forces group. My Recon Battalion did not do any water landings or secret type activities. We were given a section on a map that had grid lines and were then ordered to Recon areas that the Captain wanted checked for Charlie. Charlie was a bigger threat than the NVA. At least to us they were.
 
People who do this are pathetic. I pity them; maybe it's some type of mental illness & they can't help it. This is found in other areas besides military service. I don't think they realize that they're frequently laughed at behind their backs.
I worked with a couple of guys like that. On our lunch break, a group of us would be chatting about baseball, football, boat racing, skydiving, etc. No matter what the subject was, he'd chime in about how he "Played professional baseball & football, raced boats....he did everything. Then he'd go into the terrible injuries he suffered....and how that didn't stop him.

My ex wife's father talked about how he rescued hundreds of prisoners from a Nazi death camp....all by himself. He was an alcoholic; maybe that had something to do with his fairy tales.

One of my favorite "Twilight Zone" episodes was about a guy like that; he told so many self-flattering tall tales, then he was kidnapped & taken about a space ship by aliens & nobody believed him. I like it so much, I've watched it over & over: "Hocus Pocus & Frisbee."
 


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