# Military fakers going overboard **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 7, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251 "2010-06-07T06:29:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/41 "2010-06-08T23:51:05Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Hunter S. Motherfucking Thompson! One can only assume that the governor who appointed Thompson did so out of upset at being locked out of the decadent and depraved 1970 Kentucky Derby. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/42 "2010-06-09T00:32:19Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > A little Googling indicates that Army chopper pilots and some Navy pilots are warrant officers, and can actually become such via enlisting- they just go straight to NCO status. If I’m not mistaken, warrant officers W-2 and above are commissioned. ETA: > [@](#): > > Candidates who successfully complete Warrant Officer Candidate School are appointed in the grade of Warrant Officer One. When promoted to Chief Warrant Officer Two, warrant officers are commissioned by the President and have the same legal status as their traditional commissioned officer counterparts. However, warrant officers remain single-specialty officers whose career track is oriented towards progressing within their career field rather than focusing on increased levels of command and staff duty positions. From [http://usawocc.army.mil/whatiswo.htm](http://usawocc.army.mil/whatiswo.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/43 "2010-06-09T00:35:11Z")
On a kinda-related topic, I was at a party down on the Peninsula a few years ago when I was introduced to someone by a friend b/c this guy also worked for Microsoft. During our small talk he told me he was until a year ago a long time developer on the XL team, but now worked for a startup. Upon hearing that I informed him that _I_ was a developer in the Office group, didn’t recognize him, and thought surely I would have, having been there since 1992. After I asked him which feature teams he worked on, (still innocently embarrassed that I didn’t recognize him), he excused himself and left the party. As he left we all looked at each other, confused, saying things like “Was that guy **bullshitting** about being a Microsoft developer?!” I guess it’s the military faker equivalent, but for Silicon Valley. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/44 "2010-06-09T01:04:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Quite a list there. Johnny Depp, Bill Clinton, Elvis, Betty White, Muhammed Ali, Tiger Woods, Hunter S. Motherfucking Thompson! I like the fact that they awarded Omar Bradley, a five star general, the honorary rank of colonel. ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/45 "2010-06-09T04:14:33Z")
For those interested in an overseas perspective, I can recommend the British Army’s highly unofficial “Army Rumour Service” - obviously abbreviated “Arrse”, which rather sets the tone. The British term is “Walt” - from the Thurber story of Walter Mitty - and their servicemen are not crazy about them, as can be seen from multiple entries on the inimitable “aarsepedia”: [Walts](http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Walts) [Walting with Confidence](http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Walting_With_Confidence) (Not responsible for productivity lost while perusing the Aarsepedia. After all, how many wikis have a page titled [Yet another occasion when the slovenly Frogs were given a richly deserved slapping](http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Yet_another_occasion_when_the_slovenly_Frogs_were_given_a_richly_deserved_slapping)?) ---
**Author:** ![Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8c91f0/32.png) [@Bam\_Boo\_Gut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bam_Boo_Gut)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/46 "2010-06-09T12:01:54Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > And it turns out we weren’t even fighting the Comanches in World War II. Ah … but it was WW1! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/47 "2010-06-09T12:05:52Z")
Was it over when the Comanches bombed Pearl Harbor? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/48 "2010-06-09T13:57:14Z")
> [@Spiny\_Norman](#): > > [Walting with Confidence](http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Walting_With_Confidence) Absolutely fantastic - 2nd the recommendation 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/49 "2010-06-09T14:37:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I like the fact that they awarded Omar Bradley, a five star general, the honorary rank of colonel. Actually, that sort of fills a gap: Bradley was never a full Army colonel, as he was promoted straight from lieutenant colonel to brigadier general when he took command of Fort Benning. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/50 "2010-06-09T19:37:14Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Warrant officers are officers, they get saluted and everything and their kids get to go to the officer’s club and eat prime rib and everything. 'Course, when they retire, they revert to E-9 for the better retirement pay. In 1968 my newly-graduated husband just missed the fun in Nam by a blink. His DI took a liking to him, pulled some strings and he was sent to a state-side post where he was the Dependent Youth Activities Sports Director. A very lucky Private. I worked for DYA and had lunch most days at the officer’s club with his boss and her female friends but he couldn’t get in. Heh. That changed very rapidly when he got bumped up willy-nilly because the Post Commander didn’t like having to deal with a Private. So I guess sometimes people don’t have to put in much time to earn rank. He was discharged in two years as a Spec. Five. ---
**Author:** ![T.Slothrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3e96dc/32.png) [@T.Slothrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T.Slothrop)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/51 "2010-06-10T06:39:06Z")
Originally posted by Really Not All That Bright : “Do you know all the units which were deployed to 'Nam off the top of your head?” No, not all of them, but this guy was talking about an infantry division, between 10 and 20 thousand very-happy-to-be-there folks. Yes. I know all of them. (the divisions, not the happy folks). ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/52 "2010-06-10T13:39:51Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Claiming to have been dishhonorably discharged after eight months as a fry cook at Fort Benning is probably not going to get you any free drinks. Yeah, but there’s a happy medium. My grandfathers both did things in World War II that would make you shit your pants, but neither won the Victoria Cross. A fairly low-key explanation of their achievements would have gotten either of them free food and drink for the entirety of a month-long stay in the Netherlands, no additions required. A guy I was in basic raining with has done stuff in Afghanistan that boggles the mind, but it’s just maybe two extra ribbons on his dress uniform, and he doesn’t brag about it. Many soldiers in war zones face combat and do brave things but aren’t given an Audie Murphy-sized collection of medals for it. I can only conclude these fakers don’t actually know any combat veterans. If they did they’d know how to play the fakery. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251/53 "2010-06-20T04:00:18Z")
From the Onion: [Candidate May Have Lied About Heroic Death In Vietnam](http://www.theonion.com/articles/candidate-may-have-lied-about-heroic-death-in-viet,17600/) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/military-fakers-going-overboard/542251.md?page=2)