Phonies & Wannabees

This is coolbert:

“I made a mistake” - - “I did something wrong and apologized for it.”

Here from the Chicago Tribune yesterday:

“NEWS FOCUS - - Stolen valor: A Tribune investigation”

“Hunt is on for phony POW’s”

“Private watchdogs scour questionable claims to ex-prisoner, elite warrior status”

Back once more, how many times is it now, to the subject of the fake military war hero. The imposter/prevaricator/poseur’!

NOW, the fake prisoner-of-war [POW]! “I was a prisoner of the enemy - - horrible things were done to me - - they did degrading, inhumane things to us!”

“The story that Richard Barr Cayton has told of his Vietnam War service features a torturous march through the jungle . . . [with] his arms tied to a branch . . . He was a prisoner of war, he said”

“For all its drama, Cayton’s story of captivity and a flight to freedom is not supported by military records or interviews . . . Records show that Cayton was a soldier but never a prisoner of war”

“Such claims are so common that a cottage industry of sorts has emerged to expose phony POW’s, Navy SEAL’s, Green Berets and others falsely claiming that they served in Elite military units.”

[right, none of these guys ever claim that they worked as a communications center specialist or some such military occupation. Always I-was-a-trained-killer-and-have-been-sworn-to-an-oath-of-secrecy-and-know-fifty-ways-to-kill-with-my-bare-hands!!]

Among those involved in such a “cottage industry” of ferreting out the wannabee war hero/prevaricator/imposter/poseur’ are Mary and Chuck Schantag:

This couple, working on their own, has “exposed close to 1,900 people who falsely claimed to be prisoners of war and another 2,000 men who falsely claimed they served in elite units.”

This Richard Barr Cayton, too, did have a distinguished military career, even after Vietnam. Retired after a long period of active duty status, with the rank of Command Sergeant Major. He is NOT a man who needs to falsify anything. And yet, he did!

For the most part, these phonies are your everyday sad-sack, sorry individuals, living a “Walter Mitty", “Baron Munchhausen”, “Flashman” type of life - - BUT ONLY IN THEIR OWN MIND!!??

It takes a battalion of psychologists to figure these guys [military imposter/prevaricator/false war hero/poseur’] out, if it can be done at all!

In case any of you were wondering, just so the record is straight from the get-go, the MOS [military occupation specialty] of your reporter when on active duty was 72B, communications center specialist. And no Medals of Honor won either.

Cheers.

coolbert.