Walter mitty's

[Gil Boyd]

I only wish those in power would do something about this scourge in our society. These guys can be very dangerous!!!
I admire those countries that have installed a Stolen Valour act of sorts to stop this from happening, but I know even in the States there have been some recent SEAL Walters.
I often ask myself ........why do they always want to be ex an PARA. It would be more believeable had they gone for selection from the Army Catering Corps, everyone needs a good in their unit

His poor wife and family

Waltham Cross man lied to his family for 15 YEARS claiming he was an SAS hero | Daily Mail Online

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[Peter Laidler]

They are easy to uncover by asking a couple of simple questions.

[Gil Boyd]

Not always. We had a guy at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford who was a lecturer on Tanks, and also alledged he was a Military Medal holder and fought in the Falklands War in my Company in 2 PARA.
Well, sadly for him he came across me, telling me he served at the exact time I did in my 70 strong B company................well you know the answer to that, you know everyman jack of them personally.

I was serving in CID when he surfaced and I also worked in my spare time at the Regimental museum, and once we started delving into his background low and behold his past lies came back to haunt him.
He even told people he was the Tank advisor on a number of films in cluding Saving Private Ryan. A short sharp statement from Steven Spielberg for Crown Court soon put that lie to bed.
Here's the story for those that are interested. I was at Crown Court everyday in a three week trial ending with him getting 3 years for perverting the course of justice.
Now that is a result after a lot of hard detective work and the only way we could bring a new charge at the time to arrest him. Things have changed now in this country where you can be tried twice for the same offence if fresh evidence comes to light.

'Plastic para' fantasist who spent years claiming he was a hero soldier despite serving as a cook is jailed for fraud | Daily Mail Online

Man jailed for faking army career - Mirror Online

Listen to his voice and make up your own mind: BBC NEWS | UK | England | Cambridgeshire | Historian 'posed as a war hero'

[browningautorifle]

alledged he was a Military Medal holder and fought in the Falklands War in my Company in 2 PARA.

And that WILL happen if a man tries to do it long enough and wide enough. As peter says, it only takes a second or so for us to determine. Even the way one speaks to fellow troops will be evident.

[Res]

the only good thing these people prove is that people who serve are still valued-otherwise none would pretend to have served

[Peter Laidler]

Exactly Gil...... he was caught out initially by a few simple well placed questions! An MM holder is IMMEDIATELY identifiable in public records within 5 minutes

[CINDERS]

I have to ask why! like many of my age and whos father served 4 years over seas as an LAC RAAF through NG, Wewak, Moratai and Mindanao he never ever spoke of the war ever to me, he did talk one day to my B/inlaw about when the japs bombed them and it was a nasty do and that was it, never attended the RSL I guess somethings are best left in the past.
I feel sorry for them that they have to live a lie, but of all things to impersonate armed service no that is a very dishonorable thing and I agree they should be singled out.

I will tell you about my Uncle who volunteered for active service in WWII but was pronounced medically unfit according to my mother he was heartbroken, even though he had the papers an angry mob still tarred and feathered my Uncle and sent white feathers in an envelope to my Grandmothers house.
Here we had a man prepared to go to the sharp end and denied and others who would never go there but live lies to climb the ladder of peoples admiration losing bar*tards?

[Roy W]

An interesting thread,

So what is a Walt? Is it someone who has never served, or can it be someone who has served, but embellishes their career?

In the past two decades there appears to have been a lot of medal envy going on amongst Cold War Warriors, as evidenced by the constant demands for a National Defence Medal, just for serving. Add to this the very generous distribution of the Queens Golden Jubilee Medal, and the even more generous Diamond Jubilee medal and a sub culture of adding medals to groups has become quite prolific.

The most 'walted' medal in the UK at the moment would appear to be the Queens Silver Jubilee Medal, only awarded in the region of 33,000 it has become almost De'Rigeur for those who served at the time to throw one up, 'because everyone got the Golden and Diamond, so it isn't fair'. Ironically the QSJM is the only Jubilee medal of the three that has a searchable medal roll and is easy to check.

If you don't believe me, take a look on Remembrance Day, especially amongst the retired RUC/UDR contingents in London, and see the swaths of QSJMs amongst groups.

So, back to the question, are they Walts too, or just a little sad?

If exaggerating makes you one, then I expect most pi**ed up squaddies will qualify at least once in their life

[Gil Boyd]

Roy,
It does open up a very interesting area of the human mind.
Why do so many do it, when not all circumstances are the same?

My simplistic view would be, having dealt with a large number of these individuals over the years, who were either wearing medals they have never been issued with officially, or having produced documentation alledging they have done this service or that course in the Military without any entitlement to do so, is to examine each individual case on its merits.

In ALL these cases they produced them knowing they were false, which completes the offence of deceit, and then use the respective item for "personal gain", which comes in many forms.
It is normally either to fraudulently deceive for monetary gain or to indulge in fantastic daydreams they have made up of personal triumphs in major Military battles over a time period that covers their lives and they can read about, to enhance their bearing in the community they serve.
So in short it is easy to fit Civilian or indeed Military Law around these people, so they can be dealt with fairly, but it is the civilian criminal law that delivers the best result and offers a meaningful deterrant to stop them doing it again......hopefully!

I am not a Psychologist, but those I have met who will talk about the subject, state most Walter Mitty's are intellectual individuals. I would however, disagree, as wide as the subject is, often the people that do this are ignorant to the Military community and how they serve, and in a large number have never served their country in any form, in any uniform.
They simply want to enhance their boring lives to impress or to deliver deceit in what ever form that may be.

[Roy W]

Gil, all agreed. There are some massively insecure people around, and unfortunately some seriously jealous ones too.

Narcissistic personalities is probably the more likely profile, rather than simply intellectual.

Roy