Walter mitty's

[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.