Shylock in Amishland Musings about life and development.

There is nothing that burns a veteran’s buttons more than seeing someone who lies about their service record or the awards earned for the sake of garnering unearned respect or padding a resume. There are those who bilk the Veteran’s Administration out of money. There are elected officials who lie to gain the favor of an uninformed electorate.

The most effective police force is veterans, of course. We have a sort of “spider sense,” which is keyed by incorrect uniform arrangements in pictures, stories that fall flat on our ears, or anything accompanied by “I can’t really tell anyone about it.”

The Vietnam era vets seem to have it the worst. There are roughly between 600-700 former POWs alive in the United States, G-d bless them, and yet, there are exponentially more people telling stories of captivity than this. Every third Vietnam vet is a Navy SEAL, too.

The most troubling cases of Stolen Valor come, of course, from those who have never served at all. Our reaction is visceral, swift, and uncompromising. The general position is either admit fraudulence or suffer as much humiliation as the Internet can afford. Some make veiled threats or post addresses online.

In a way, it’s flattering. The most egregious cases of fakery emerge from those inhabiting the most marginal of existences. They may have been rejected for service, or failed out early, but not before they tasted the fruit of the Tree of Awesomesauce. They look in the mirror and loathe what they see so much that they encase themselves in fictional stories, often which resemble the pastiche of service they see in Chuck Norris films, and to all but the most gullible, end up in a pathetic feedback loop. That they see our service as the antidote for their inadequacies should tell us something about sanctity of our sacrifice. We need to identify and expose them, rather than allowing them to create false impressions of service to the uninformed.

However, a recent posting about a phony on Stolen Valor’s Facebook page raised some alarm bells for me. A young man, too young to be in Special Forces, let alone a 6 year vet, posted the following, claiming to be a first lieutenant.

Depressing information about this kid here.

Two years prior to this, this young man was the victim of cyber-bullying, to the point where four young men hopped into a car and drove to his house. A fight ensued, and this young man stabbed one of the assailants in the stomach with a 12″ knife and cut the other two. He was 16 or 17, tried as an adult, and sentenced to a year in prison.

Clearly, life has not been kind to this boy. I don’t know him, so I don’t know if he invited it on himself, but that’s not really the point for me. I swore an oath to protect the Constitution of the United States, and along with that implicitly, our citizenry—even those for whom I hold great disdain.

This young man is clearly troubled. Instead of piling on him in lieu of his laughably incredible claims, we should be, as soldiers, Marines, airmen, and sailors, asking ourselves, “what is our duty to this kid?” Is it to threaten and insult, or is it to say, “why?” and extend a firm but helpful hand and say, “what has you feeling so bad that you need to do this?”

I wrote to him thusly:

Mike,

I don’t know you, so pardon my familiarity.
I served from 1994 – 2011 in the US Army and the National Guard. I’ve been to Airborne and Air Assault school. I have distinguished myself in the service of the country. In the service of you, so you could grow up safe.
I don’t want to pile it on and insult you. I would like you to suspend your claims. Stop and apologize, get the angry vets off your back.
I read about the stabbing. Did they pick on you? Four kids show up at your house…let’s just say I know what it’s like to be bullied. I joined the service to get beyond the bullying I experienced. You don’t have to live like this. You don’t have to inhabit a lie to find things you like about yourself.

Please, Mike, I don’t want to see a young man who could still have a bright future do this to himself. Don’t invite the law into your life with the fake Army shenanigans. Get this behind you, get yourself to church or whatever faith you are, find a community that will bring you in and help you find the value that exists within you with or without service.

The only value service brings is the value you take into it to begin with. Manufacturing it won’t fill the empty spaces in your mind and heart.

Take some time and think about it, Mike, but know that there are veterans out there that rather than get angry at what you are doing, will extend the hand of compassion and concern. We will help you through this.

I have yet to receive a response.

I believe in protecting the meritorious and valorous service of veterans. I do not believe that pretending to be a veteran, current service member, or wearing military decorations unearned should be protected as free speech, as some argue using the “slippery slope.” I respectfully disagree, as the progression of lawful conduct always involves drawing new lines.

However, I do believe that we, as veterans, have an obligation to look beyond the indignity rendered us and consider where it is coming from. If someone is trying to profit or gain something to which they were not otherwise entitled, by all means, we should come down on him or her. In the case of clear mental health issues, we need to act in the interest of getting the party help or attention from the appropriate authorities rather than engaging in pillory.

Valor is not just about conduct on the battlefield. My regimental affiliation is with the Rakkasans from the 101st Airborne Division. The Latin motto on our insignia reads “Ne Desit Virtus,” or “Let Valor not Fail.” This isn’t just about soldiering. To paraphrase what I said to Mike, battlefield valor and merit in service lay dormant in all of us, and it’s not something that requires heroism in an award citation to evoke, though this is valor in its purest, most glorious form. A little bit of that honor and duty is in order now.

This is life, and if we honor what we are, we must attend to valor and merit in all our pursuits, not just the ones requiring a uniform. I saw comments on Stolen Valor encouraging this young man to take his own life. How is that worthy of valor any more than this kid’s middling falsehoods?

The Stolen Valor Act was a well-intentioned, feel-good attempt to distinguish our sacred service from profane and cynical hijacking. When our zeal to see honor protected outweighs our present interest in acting with dignity worthy of our oaths, one wonders what valor is there to be stolen.