Surfing the Web takes me to some weird places and today I was watching a couple of Stolen Valor themed youtube videos. In a nutshell, folks not in the military wearing uniforms getting busted out.
We all understand wearing awards or qualifications you have not earned/received or falsely claiming affiliation with a unit or deployment/assignments is stolen valor.
My question:
I have a 3 color desert camo gortex parka. Am I wrong to wear it with the leader’s tab and rank insignia removed? Would wearing the parka imply to a civilian that I am in the military?
I know it seemd like kind of a dumb question, but is it?
My thinking is that if you are impersonating a Airman/Coastie/Marine/Sailor/Soldier (no matter how poorly), then it’s stolen valor. Pretending to be a service member in attempt to gain some thing or benefit.
Some guy wearing a bdu or acu trousers and blouse is not necessarily stolen valor.
I’m just a rando civvie, but I think as long as you’re not wearing tabs, insignia, etc or going around telling people that you were a SEAL in 'nam, then it’s just a warm jacket and who cares. It’s not your problem if someone makes assumptions so long as you don’t go along with it. “Hey man, I see your jacket…Were you in Saigon for 'tet?” “Naw, bruh, it’s just a jacket…”
I should have added that I am retired Army and that I have deployed to Desert Storm and OIF but didn’t think it was entirely relevant to my question.
I gave my field jackets, etc to my boys as well. I figured no one would think a long haired teenager was military, and when I see/saw a kid wearing one, my assumption is always that their mom/dad/aunt/uncle gave it to them.
I really never thought about it until I was watching the videos and realized that non-military folks think differently…
I wear my old parka and other stuff including unit patches that I earned in patching ceremonies.
I’m proud of it…
I’m proud of my service but I have a limit also.
I draw the line at fake stuff and not serving.
I once did IT service to an ODA that was nearby the USACE AO. I was happy to do it for them. It became a regular thing…they even adopted me like a pet mascot, fixing their wifi and vpn and other comm stuff. It later turned into a TDY thingy.
End of it…they gave me their unit patch…
Am I am 18 series now? Nope…
Never said that…Am I an operator now…nope…
But I’m proud of the patch they gave me…and they did encourage me to do the 18 QC
Come to JFK…
I never did…as I had other commitments.
Can I show that patch on my backpack and moral patch collection?
If someone approaches you to try to call you out about wearing camo, I 100% guarantee they don’t have a DD-214 tucked away, because nobody cares about that stuff.
I meet plenty of people lying about being vets through my job, and even as a vet who spent 3 of his first 6 years in service deployed, I don’t care.
And their opinions are irrelevant because of this. If they feel strongly enough about it to want to harass strangers, remind them there are recruiting offices in every major US city for every branch and they can go earn a valid opinion.
Probably not totally germaine, but as a younger teen, I wore my old man’s poplin OD jungle fatigues to skate in simply because after 24 years they had felt like literal silk. I don’t recall some dude coming up to me shouting “YOU WEREN’T [i]THERE[/i], MAAAAAAN!!!”
Caring what other people wear is kinda arfcommy. Like unless some dude is trying to hustle money then let them larp. It’s like autistic kids and Star Trek, let it be. Nobody really cares. And nobody cares about the people who care.
Stolen Valor comes in 3 flavors, from “least” bad to most heinous: 1) claiming something that’s not true to impress a chick or dudes at the bar–not cool, you are a douchebag. 2) Claiming something that’s not true to get something, but not .gov bennies–you are an ass-wipe. 3). Claiming something that’s not true to claim .gov bennies–you deserve a slow and painful death.
Wearing jackets/shirts/etc., even with unit patches, insignia, beads, baubles, or badges, is ok, as long as you are honest about it.
If wearing an old uniform is a sentence to hell I am getting warm. My grandmother owned a taylor shop in downtown Savannah. Fort Stewart 30 miles south. Hunter Army Airfield in town. Parris Island and the Marine Corp Air Station 30 mile north. Plus all of the merchant seamen and foreign seaman visiting the port.
Bro, wearing ACUs for any reason other than your employer mandating it is always the wrong answer… as far as anything else, I avoid wearing any patches I have not earned. I also try not to stick out, so I generally don’t wear much that says I ever did anything. That’s probably because I’m a pog, but my relatives who were high-speed types never felt the need to advertise, either. If you are self-aware enough to ask the question, you probably have enough discretion to not be “that guy”.
I wear my friends BDU jacket all the time complete with special forces, airborne and ranger tabs as well as collar ranks, CIB, combat diver, combat medic and name tab.
If anybody asks, I answer it was a buddy of mine and they could pretty easily research the name. I wouldn’t wear it with matching pants, boots, etc. but I wear the jacket whenever it is jacket weather.
In the winter I wear an sterile M-65 OD coat and if somebody doesn’t like it, too bad.
Now the big difference is I’m never in full Class As and the only time I’m in complete BDUs is if I’m airsofting or something like that and in that case no rank, names or unit insignia of any kind and probably tiger stripe.
And more importantly, if anything is in doubt and somebody asks, I get them set straight, I was never a special seal or anything like that.
My old cammies make great work wear/range wear. I don’t wear them out just for the sake of wearing them out, but I sure do wear my warming layers and/or rain gear when I need them. So many people wear that stuff nowadays anyway, that it’s not really advertising that much.
OP, do what you want. It’s ethically and (IMO) morally wrong to claim something you didn’t earn/do, and it’s legally wrong to do that for the purpose of monetary gain. As long as you don’t fall into one of those two categories (at least the second one), screw what other people think.
Totally understand. I was just making fun of the lack of cool factor from the ACUs. For whatever reason, they just never had that utilitarian feel at the BDUs did. I’m not in the least bit sad that they issue something different now. Maybe I’m just being juvenile.
Chocolate chip cammies are awesome for anything except actual desert camo so they should be considered civies. I also just love the look of MARPAT BDU pants.
They work pretty well in arid mountains. Flat desert, probably not. Keep in mind, the design is almost 50 years old. I just think they look neat, fade well, are comfy and if you get them dirty; it won’t matter. I got them solely for the more jockish shooting courses and they are so out of date, nobody cares.
I still have some Tac Tigers I got in the early 00s that nobody has or uses anymore. I dont mean the gun show gucciflage urban tigers. I mean urban camo in the original Vietnam pattern. They look kinda purplish or grey depending on the light. I been getting back in shape since some pretty rough injuries and can wear them again. I was mid twenties when they were hot. It was fun bumming in them as you feel like Snake Plissken sort of but I would hate for them to get messed up so they stay in mothballs. A neat little memento of those days. Back when LE unironically used urban camo