Pretenders

[Linc]

So, one of my young pilots is also a volunteer firefighter in the town he lives in and whenever the life flight (mercy flight, whatever it's called) comes to pick up a patient, the local volunteer department goes out and blocks traffic. This week he tells me about an incident last weekend. They blocked off the road and the EC 145 comes in and lands and shuts down to wait for the patient. While they're waiting for the ambulance to arrive, this buddy of mine goes up to talk with the EC 145 pilot.

 

During the course of the discussion, the EC 145 pilot mentions that he used to fly for the military.

 

"Army?"

"No, Marines."

 

"What did you fly, AH-1W?"

"No, the Apache."

 

My buddy looks down and sees a Gentex SPH-4B with a painted visor. The pilot notices and says, "Yeah, this is the same helmet I used to fly with, too."

 

I'll never understand the need to have some sort of flimsy cover story that a military member is going to see through, and all for the purpose of attempting to impress people. Dude, if being a helicopter pilot isn't enough...

[Gomer Pylot]

Probably lied about his time to get his commercial license and the EC145 job, too. Once you start, it's pretty much impossible to stop. I've flown with a few guys like that, and you can tell right away.

[jbax22]

In my experience, those who have really done things I consider impressive don't feel the need to brag like he11, as a matter of fact they rarely mention things unless asked and even then don't like to discuss them. If someone comes up to you with a big elaborate story about their millitary experience odd's are they are full of crap. I had a couple friends who were in the Marine Corps, one bragged that he was going through sniper training and the other claimed to be a rifle instructor. In truth, one was an administrative clerk, the other was in supply. This however is not as bad, in my opinion, as claiming to have been in the Millitary and having never served, that my friends is as SORRY AS WHALE SH!T. (my apologies for an obvious southernism).

 

 

May God protect our real Soldiers wherever they may be.

 

 

Josh

[notspock]

Reminds me of a story, I first heard at Ft. Wolters.

 

Little Johnny was playing in a sand box, he had his hands on 2 sticks in the sand and was sitting on a milk crate.......from his mouth came a "WOP, WOP WOP."

 

Little Suzy came up and asked what he was doing. Little Johnny replied, "I'm a Army Helicopter Pilot, flying a Huey", continuing with the constant, "WOP, WOP, WOP."

 

Little Suzy asks, "Can I fly with you in your Army helicopter?.....I always wanted to know a Army Helicopter pilot."

 

Johnny says, "sure get in the left seat." pointing to another milk crate. Continuing with the "WOP, WOP, WOP"

 

In a few minutes, Little Suzy asked little Johnny "why are you wiggling those sticks?" Little Johnny looked at her with a glaring stare and said " because that is what real Army Helicopter Pilots do."

 

Little Suzy, being a little upset at Little Johnny, turned toward him, hiked up her skirt, pulled down her panties and said "Little Johnny, do you want to kiss this?"

 

Little Johnny shut up the WOP, WOP, WOP and sheepishly said to Little Suzy, " No, I'm just playing like I'm a real Army Helicopter Pilot."

[nbit]

Gotta love this thread... Seen so much of this, it really sickens me.

A couple of thumbnail sketch stories...

 

Story 1. An acquaintance, a helicopter instructor, and fixed-wing DPE, gets a student - a foreigner, claiming to have 4000+ hours of helicopter time (logbook provided - how to verify??) in his country's air force.... After 23 hours in the Enstrom, he was finally able to hover. As soon as he obtained his commercial ticket, he takes the family, pulls up stakes, moves to Hawaii to do tours... Shortly after arriving there, he flies his Astar into IMC into the side of a mountain, all aboard killed. What's up with that?

 

Story 2. A local instructor claims to have attained 7000 hours helicopter time in less than seven years. Everyone in the area who knows the guy, has spent any amount of time around him knows it cannot be true.

 

Story 3. Just a couple of weeks ago, a guy cleaning the carpet at our hangar offices sees our helicopters and jet and claims to be an ex-Army Blackhawk helicopter pilot. Upon further questioning, I find out he is lying, and he was an enlisted supply clerk. Yeah, he "rode" a helicopter once, maybe... ...or maybe he was in the sandbox???

 

Also - I agree with jbax22... I have known a few genuine SEALS and Ranger types. This is a rash generalization, but... If they are wearing insignia, bumper stickers, jackets, hats, or telling stories it is almost a guarantee they are other than what they claim... Maybe there should be a site like this for wannabe aviators or pilots misrepresenting their credentials.

Edited January 21, 2007 by nbit

[james28]

you can lie about your hours? how do people get away with that. that's pretty low and dangerous if you ask me.

[KMWK]

Lie about your hours someone will find out. The feds will yank your certificate for life. All they have to do is pull all flight physicals. If the numbers don't add up, you're screwed.

 

Don't do it!

[UH-1Huey]

Test .

 

This is a test. I am having trouble posting in this forum.. I get error messages saying send to microsoft-Do not seend. Lets see if this goes through

[IWannaFly]

This kind of thing amazes me. I don't understand how someone can have to guts do lie about something like that without fear of getting caught. When I was in flight school (fixed wing), I knew this female instructor. She was telling me that she was at a party and some kid kept hitting on her and bragging about being a pilot. He was explaining all the fancy maneuvers he was doing in the Cessna 152 that he was training in (none of which can be done in a 152). Needless to say, his jaw dropped when he saw her at the school he had just joined and even more so when she was assigned as his instructor.

 

Blake

[Gomer Pylot]

You can lie about anything, anytime. The government does it all the time. You do risk being caught, but then just do what the government does - deny, deny, deny. If you haven't learned this, you haven't been paying attention.

[Linc]

I don't know what you're talking about!

[goldwinger]

This happens so often, just a few nights ago my roomate came home from thanksgiving break (we are in college) and said she ran into a marine I might know who said he was in special forces. I told her there was no such thing as special forces in the marines, we only have what we call recon. Anyways, the guy claimed that his unit was in San Jose, California, which is my old unit (when I was air delivery) and is a landing support battalion. The recon unit is in alameda, I know this because I am a parachute rigger for them! haha. So just another duffus trying to be cool.

[wannabe heli pilot]

You can lie about anything, anytime. The government does it all the time. You do risk being caught, but then just do what the government does - deny, deny, deny. If you haven't learned this, you haven't been paying attention.

It reminds me of one of the all time greatest..." I did not have sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky."

[permison]

This happens so often, just a few nights ago my roomate came home from thanksgiving break (we are in college) and said she ran into a marine I might know who said he was in special forces. I told her there was no such thing as special forces in the marines, we only have what we call recon. Anyways, the guy claimed that his unit was in San Jose, California, which is my old unit (when I was air delivery) and is a landing support battalion. The recon unit is in alameda, I know this because I am a parachute rigger for them! haha. So just another duffus trying to be cool.

 

I hate to tell you this but he may not have been lying. Do a google search on the "new" Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC). It was created in Nov 2005. There is a Wikipedia article about found here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Corps_...rations_Command The offical web site can be found here http://www.marsoc.usmc.mil/

 

It is possible he was telling the truth (also possible he was full of it). Just keep in mind just becuse you don't know about something does not automaticly make it false.

Permison

[Linc]

Permison,

 

I don't think a Marine would ever refer to the Marine Special Ops community, Force Recon or some other, as Special Forces (SF). Marines, as goldwinger will most likely attest to, are averse to terms that can cause them to be mistaken as Army. Consequently, Marines do not like being called Soldiers. Even the rest of the Special Operations community, apart from the Army Special Forces, do not refer to themselves as Special Forces. SEALs are not Special Forces, Force Recon Marines are not Special Forces, etc., they are Special Operations Forces (SOF), but I don't know any that would refer to themselves individually as SF. They are Special Operations or whatever their branch's name for their community, and more commonly, even amongst Army Special Forces, simply Operators.

 

And actually, I haven't known any legitimate operators that would share the nature of what they do with someone they just met. The ones I've met, if you ask what they do, the response is simply, "Training."

[permison]

Permison,

 

I don't think a Marine would ever refer to the Marine Special Ops community, Force Recon or some other, as Special Forces (SF). Marines, as goldwinger will most likely attest to, are averse to terms that can cause them to be mistaken as Army. Consequently, Marines do not like being called Soldiers. Even the rest of the Special Operations community, apart from the Army Special Forces, do not refer to themselves as Special Forces. SEALs are not Special Forces, Force Recon Marines are not Special Forces, etc., they are Special Operations Forces (SOF), but I don't know any that would refer to themselves individually as SF. They are Special Operations or whatever their branch's name for their community, and more commonly, even amongst Army Special Forces, simply Operators.

 

And actually, I haven't known any legitimate operators that would share the nature of what they do with someone they just met. The ones I've met, if you ask what they do, the response is simply, "Training."

 

Oh I totally agree, but I was responding to the statement that "there is no such thing as special forces in the marines". The guy (at the party) was probably full of $hit. But spec ops does exsist in the corps. It was a big topic at my office recently.

[klas]

Permison,

 

I don't think a Marine would ever refer to the Marine Special Ops community, Force Recon or some other, as Special Forces (SF). Marines, as goldwinger will most likely attest to, are averse to terms that can cause them to be mistaken as Army. Consequently, Marines do not like being called Soldiers. Even the rest of the Special Operations community, apart from the Army Special Forces, do not refer to themselves as Special Forces. SEALs are not Special Forces, Force Recon Marines are not Special Forces, etc., they are Special Operations Forces (SOF), but I don't know any that would refer to themselves individually as SF. They are Special Operations or whatever their branch's name for their community, and more commonly, even amongst Army Special Forces, simply Operators.

 

And actually, I haven't known any legitimate operators that would share the nature of what they do with someone they just met. The ones I've met, if you ask what they do, the response is simply, "Training."

 

I may not be part of the Special Operations Force, but I am SPECIAL. My ma said I was....

[klmmarine]

I hate to tell you this but he may not have been lying. Do a google search on the "new" Marine Corps Special Operations Command (MARSOC). It was created in Nov 2005. There is a Wikipedia article about found here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Corps_...rations_Command The offical web site can be found here http://www.marsoc.usmc.mil/

 

It is possible he was telling the truth (also possible he was full of it). Just keep in mind just becuse you don't know about something does not automaticly make it false.

Permison

 

 

There are no MARSOC commands in Northern CA. There are the 1st Marine Special Operations Batallion (at Pendleton), and the 2d Marine Special Operations Batallion (at Lejune), neither are based or have satellite commands based at San Jose, or Alameda. The guy at the party was F.O.S. I have spent a lot of time with MARSOC Marines and Corpsmen and NONE of them would refer to themselves as "Special Forces" That is Army, and they are ALL proud to be MARINES.

[Linc]

Permison,

 

Maybe I missed something. From goldwinger's post, I understood that goldwinger is/was in the Marines and actively supported Force Recon or other Marine Special Operations. That was why I responded to your post, because you seemed to feel that goldwinger was not aware of Marine Special Operators. I was pointing out that no matter what they might be called in the Marines, goldwinger's statement is true, there are no special forces in the Marines; SOF maybe, but no SF.

 

I think we're all agreed, though, the guy was most likely a poser.

[permison]

Permison,

 

Maybe I missed something. From goldwinger's post, I understood that goldwinger is/was in the Marines and actively supported Force Recon or other Marine Special Operations. That was why I responded to your post, because you seemed to feel that goldwinger was not aware of Marine Special Operators. I was pointing out that no matter what they might be called in the Marines, goldwinger's statement is true, there are no special forces in the Marines; SOF maybe, but no SF.

 

I think we're all agreed, though, the guy was most likely a poser.

 

I think there was just confusion on terminology. I read his post as he believed there were no Special Forces (or SOF) other then Force Recon in the Marines period. What I did not notice was subtle difference between the term Special Forces and Special Operations. This brings to mind the question of what the difference would be in job description between Special Forces and Special Operators. But what the hell do I know, I was Army. They'll take any idiot off the street.