Heartbroken because of a brother's lies

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Tonight as I was driving home from visiting a Masonic lodge in another town, I was told the most dishonest, ridiculous story by the guy who I went with. This is a guy who I call my brother, a guy who participated in my initiation into the lodge, who, in fact, was one of the guys who was on the examining committee when I applied to join the lodge. And I have had so many interesting conversations with him and always thought we were operating on the same wavelength. I felt so lucky to know this amazingly creative, insightful, soulful guy, and now I feel unbelievably low because I know that he lied to me.

Here’s what he told me: he claimed that, back in the 80s, he was working as a concrete contractor in Florida and he did a job at Naval Air Station Pensacola fixing runways. During this time, he claimed, and for years prior, he had tried to join the Marine Corps but was rejected by the recruiter on account of, one, the fact that he had three children, and two, he had a bounced check in his history.

He said that, one day, he was at the recruiter’s office trying to convince him, and the recruiter finally offered him a “special” job. He was given a marksmanship test with an M-16 rifle - he said he was able to hit the center of the target at 1,000 yards, and the guy was amazed. He was told to come back the next day, and upon doing so, met a mysterious man dressed in black who appeared to be a CIA agent. The agent told him that he wanted to recruit him as a special operative. He was told that it would all be confidential and off-the-books.

So, he began training at night (his “cover” was that he was supposed to be installing concrete bombing targets in a remote location.) He claimed that he trained with Navy SEALs and Marine Recon, received SERE training, and…you guessed it…SNIPER training.

Then he told tales of being ferried on C-130 planes at night to Panama, where he engaged in secret operations in the jungle.

I nodded and said “wow” and “hmmm” and “damn” every so often, the entire time feeling unbelievably depressed that this guy, who I trusted, was now feeding me an obvious line of bullshit.

And this wasn’t coming from a scroungy, drunken barfly with a hick accent. This guy is exceptionally articulate and well spoken, and every word he said sounded one hundred percent sincere and genuine. Which made it all the more depressing.

Now I don’t know what to do. Part of me wants to call him on his lies. But I am positive that he will keep insisting that they’re true. Maybe he genuinely believes they’re true. On the other hand, I feel like he must think I’m a real sucker for falling for his stories. I don’t know if this guy’s lying is a mental problem, in which case I really feel sorry for him, or if he’s just a self-aggrandizing jerk who wants me to think he’s hot shit.

I already thought he was hot shit before he told me this lying story. I thought he was a really great guy. I can’t believe he thought he needed to make up bullshit for me to respect him.

In summary, I have no idea what to do about this guy. And I feel terrible.

2

Boy, you’re just swimming in guys with false military backgrounds, aren’t you?

3

What do you suppose causes people to make false claims of military valor? Has this type of goofy boasting always happened, or has something changed in the social consciousness recently which makes people do this kind of stuff? I know half a dozen guys who make claims similar to your friend’s story. What’s the deal?

4

He said I am the ONLY person he has ever told about this.

Over half the guys at our lodge are former military and they would bust him in a second if he tried this with them.

His own son is an actual Marine. This I know for certain, because there are pictures all over his Facebook of him in his dress blues at the Birthday Ball with his fellow Marines.

5

I say, just let him talk. Sometimes folks like this are amusing to listen to.

Back in high school, one of the girls I used to hang out with made up the most amazing crap that she swore were true stories. They were so carefully detailed, it was fascinating. In one she said that she got into a fight with a girl gang and that she ripped the eyelid off one of the gang members. The gang member calmly dared to her to try that again. So she just reached up and ripped off the girl’s other eyelid.

She would tell these obviously bogus stories with all the appropriate gestures and backstory, and she was really very entertaining.

Of course, when she wasn’t around, we laughed our asses off at her. But we never let her know.

6

Is it possible that someone could have a mental illness where they create an elaborate story like this in their memory and sincerely believe it?

ETA: Or could it be a Masonic test of some kind?

7

There’s no such thing as a Masonic test. But, I suspect that if I did call him out, he would then tell me that he was deliberately testing me to see how smart I was, and that “I passed.”

8

Then call him on it. You’ll “pass” and hopefully he’ll realize that he can’t feed you anymore bullshit stories.

9

I think you need to reconsider every damn thing he’s ever told you. This guy is obviously not as admirable a you thought he was, but clearly you already get that.

And I don’t think he thinks you in particular are a sucker or a good target, it’s more likely he thinks everyone is a sucker.

It’s also possible he was just in an oddly crazy mood, and decided to spin a builshit tall tale. He might even think it was so obvious a joke that you would understand that at the time.

I suggest bringing it up again in some other context and see if he repeats the bullshit with seeming total sincerity.

10

Maybe you’ve accidentally joined a Mansonic Lodge? Check the spelling.

It’s at least as old as when Shakespeare wrote Henry V:

11

Sounds like all you need is an M-16 rifle, a single round, a paper target, and a range finder. One of you will apologize to the other afterward.

12

Yeah, if someone hands you a butcher knife and a West Hollywood address, you need to do some more research.

Do any members have signs carved into their foreheads ? Do the table napkins appear to be made out of human hair?

13

Maximum effective range of an M-16 is 550 meters. I don’t think the M-16 is inherently accurate enough to reliably hit the center of a target at 1,000 yards, even with a perfect shooter.

14

Perhaps the CIA was testing him for luck rather than skill.

15

There is something pathetic about people who have to make up stories like these. Over the course of my years in the military and working with the military, I’ve met men who did extraordinary things - one was a long-time POW in Vietnam, one was part of the failed rescue in Iran in the 70s, one had been held hostage and tortured in Iraq, a couple were SEALs - and one thing all of these guys had in common - they never talked about it.

There was never any bragging or bravado. They never let little things “slip.” It was as if they knew they didn’t have anything to prove. As for CIA agents, they don’t go around telling people what they do - at least not for real. They’re all “greeting card salesmen.” :wink: I had a cousin-in-law who worked for NSA and made a big deal about not discussing it. I found out some years later he was a bean counter and he had nothing to do with the intelligence side of the agency. My admittedly narrow range of experiences tells me that people who brag about things like this are most likely lying at worst or grossly exaggerating at a minimum. So I can fully understand why the OP feels as he does.

16

Next time you see him, give him a slap on the back and cheerfully and robustly say “You lyin’ ol’ sack of shit, what kind of bullshit story are you going to entertain me with today?”

I completely get your bummage with the fella. There may be a reason behind this but there certainly isn’t any excuse.

17

Hey, I went to school with Dawn too! Did she ever tell you the one where she got gang-raped in the hallway at her old school and all the teachers just ignored it?

18

It’s always a sniper isn’t it? Never a mess hall supervisor, never an underling in the Quartermaster’s Office- no. They were fucking SNIPERS!
Ay dios mio.
Tell him the CIA had your car bugged, they paid you a visit and now you’re afraid he’s going to be ‘disappeared’ for talking to you.

19

When I was in the army, I burned Atlanta down… and Gen. Sherman got all the credit. :wink:

20

My first thought. Remarkable!

Joe