Military Service

came across stolen valor today for the first time since ive been out.

wanted to string that faggot up by his balls.

I’ve had a haircut with a chick totally misrepresenting her service. Either she was completely lying or didn’t make it past basic.


Awkward. Wierd fucking thing to lie about.

There was a period of time that any false claim of military service was punishable under Stolen Valor. Socnet used to bust people and it was amazingly entertaining.

Once Congress changed it so that it was harder to prosecute (have to prove it was for monetary gain) it kind of killed the fun of it and they stopped caring.

Times have certainly changed.

I served with a 17 yr old early on. Dude needed a parental release and all. Graduated HS early. Pretty sure he put staff on or at least had a # before he could drink.

oh god and that poor kid from vietnam was from goldsboro? thats almost as bad as dying.

At least he had a plan. More than can be said for a lot of those 20+ or even 30 nowdays.

I guy I used to work with joined the air force before he was drafted. He went to Alaska as a medic helping the natives in out of the way places. He said he should have waited to get drafted into the army and gone infantry to Vietnam. Said it was a constant fight to keep anything and everything from being stolen.

After the first draft pick he said he wasn't going to sit around nervous if his number would come up and rather get it out of the way.

He went back later working on the pipeline as a pipe welder and said it worked out much better.

For some reason when you said MILES, I pictured MOLLE.

Guess I neve actually used MILES. Didn't use MOLLE that much either. I remember it being issued and using it for a while, but we quickly upgraded to some new fangled SOF thing shortly after (SPEAR maybe?).

Seemed like SF basically never wanted to use big Army shit. Even when it was just adopted from what they had been doing.

For instance, the pockets sewn onto sleeves. I remember when I first got to my unit we had a special tailor who removed the DCU lower pockets and sewed them onto the sleeves. We also had velcro everything so we could sterilize our uniforms. And then as soon as the ACU came out it was basically that.

For reporters, the flight home is often a chance to decompress. It’s the first opportunity to reflect on a story and to process our emotions.

It’s the point at which we have stepped back from our deadlines and from the pressure. It’s the point at which it can all sink in.

This week, the long flight home took me from the devastating shooting in El Paso, Texas, to Washington, D.C., with a layover in Dallas.

Dallas became the place where the weight of the world seemed to melt away. The place where the good outweighed the bad for the first time in days.

When we arrived at our gate at Dallas’ Love Field, I noticed a few camera crews waiting. I didn’t think much of it. Perhaps they were waiting for a politician or newsmaker.

A few minutes later a gate agent from Southwest Airlines appeared and started handing out American flags.

Then came the announcement over the P.A. system. A gate agent, his voice cracking, told us about the very special arrival we were about to witness.

Our inbound plane from Oakland was carrying the remains of an American airman, Col. Roy Knight Jr., who was shot down in combat during the Vietnam war in 1967.

The agent took a long pause, as he seemed to collect his words.

By this point in the story, the terminal had fallen silent.

T.S.A. agents stood solemnly in a line near the gate. The gate agent held the microphone in his hands, taking a long pause and a deep breath. He struggled to say what came next: “Today the pilot of the plane bringing Col. Knight home, is his son.”

There were quiet gasps. A few people burst into tears.

“Col. Knight ejected from his aircraft, but no parachute was seen deploying,” he explained. “A search was undertaken but could not find him.”

The agent again, took a long pause, before explaining that recently, his remains were discovered and identified and returned to the United States.

“Today, Col. Knight is coming home to Dallas,” said the agent, growing more emotional as continued explaining what we were about to witness.

Pics.