# Special Ops **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 24, 2023, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493 "2023-07-24T23:55:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/41 "2023-07-26T14:45:04Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > But I’m saying that DeNiro had Bean so completely cowed that Bean didn’t even notice that DeNiro was mispronouncing the town name - if he had, he would have known that DeNiro was bullshitting him and could have challenged him back. But Bean could have shot back: “It’s HE-RE-ford, you big wazzock” and made De Niro look silly in front of everyone. It would be needlessly high-risk and would question De Niro’s own credentials. > [@steronz](#): > > But ISTM that “Hear-ford” is exactly how an American CIA agent would pronounce it, so I’m not sure it’s incorrect. I wouldn’t expect the character to be familiar with a local pronunciation. How is De Niro to know what color the boathouse at Hereford is unless he’s been there? If he’d been there, he would surely know its proper pronunciation. > [@Stanislaus](#): > > Alas, “American mispronounces name of English town despite having been there in person” is not, from this side of the pond, a concept which requires much, if any, suspension of disbelief. …or maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/42 "2023-07-26T18:27:52Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > She says she never had a guy tell her they were in the military and drove a truck or washed dishes. Heros, All. A friend of mine works as a VA Police Officer in a VA Hospital and he’s an ex-Army enlistee too. He spends all day dealing with ex-military people. He makes this same basic observation about the number of Special Forces guys he meets versus the number of truck drivers or supply clerks. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2023, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/43 "2023-07-26T18:41:11Z")
My uncle whom I’ve known all my life served in the Army in the Vietnam era (but stationed in Germany, not Vietnam, so he never saw combat). To hear him tell it, his job mostly did, in fact, consist of driving trucks (when it wasn’t spent on time-killing stuff the military does like long hikes). It wasn’t until about a year ago that I learned that sometimes, the cargo in those trucks he was driving was nuclear weapons. Most of the stories he told about his time in the service were about various pranks he pulled on his superiors and/or peers. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/44 "2023-07-27T00:42:52Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > You can tell me. Then you’d have to find me. Marco ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/45 "2023-07-27T00:45:42Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > > [@running\_coach](#): > > > > You can tell me. Then you’d have to find me. > > Marco - [![](https://t4.ftcdn.net/jpg/00/30/56/27/360_F_30562777_CtUMuUfuYKau7WHV2lM7keT08YF3ndNp.jpg) ](https://t4.ftcdn.net/jpg/00/30/56/27/360_F_30562777_CtUMuUfuYKau7WHV2lM7keT08YF3ndNp.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/46 "2023-07-27T00:48:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It wasn’t until about a year ago that I learned that sometimes, the cargo in those trucks he was driving was nuclear weapons. I would have thought that any driver tasked with such an important cargo would have been made abundantly aware of what it was, so that the necessary precautions could be taken - i.e., what to do if there is a fire, the extreme importance of not letting this cargo get lost or captured, etc. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/47 "2023-07-27T00:51:20Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I would have thought that any driver tasked with such an important cargo would have been made abundantly aware of what it was He didn’t say _his uncle_ didn’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/48 "2023-07-27T00:53:23Z")
Facepalm - my bad reading comprehension today… ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/49 "2023-07-27T01:22:56Z")
Also could be like a bad action movie, the truck drivers are told they’re delivering blankets to a nearby military base when there’s really a nuclear weapon under all those blankets precisely so nobody suspects it. Unfortunately the bad guys have a mole that knows this which is why a single truck carrying a nuclear weapon is hijacked by the simple construction zone trick and then Jean Claude Van Damme is sent to recover it. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/50 "2023-07-27T23:25:49Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Would you believe…? That’s the second funniest comment in this thread. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2023, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/51 "2023-07-27T23:52:41Z")
I missed it by that much ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/52 "2023-07-28T23:06:42Z")
I haven’t seen his videos for a while but I used to enjoy watching Don Shipley exposing fake Navy SEALs. Shipley is a retired Senior Chief SEAL. It’s truly amazing how many of these guys are out there. He was getting so many requests to validate claims he had to start charging a nominal fee. It was overwhelming his regular business. And I’m not talking about someone with a stupid pickup line at a bar. These are people with the lie firmly engrained into their lives. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2023, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/53 "2023-07-28T23:42:00Z")
I get why Stolen Valor isn’t a crime for constitutional reasons but I love it when those lying mother fuckers are publicly exposed. Free speech works both ways. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2023, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/54 "2023-07-29T20:53:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Most of the stories he told about his time in the service were about various pranks he pulled on his superiors and/or peers. I had a friend who was in the ETO in WWII, and then Army of occupation in Japan after the war, and the only stories he would tell were funny ones about mistakes he made and various shenanigans he and his buddies would get into. He would NOT discuss anything else. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2023, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/55 "2023-07-29T20:55:40Z")
What is ETO? In context of WWII, I’ve always seen that as The European Theater. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2023, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/56 "2023-07-29T20:57:32Z")
European Theater of Operations. > **[European Theater of Operations, United States Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Theater_of_Operations,_United_States_Army)** > > The European Theater of Operations, United States Army (ETOUSA) was a Theater of Operations responsible for directing United States Army operations throughout the European theatre of World War II, from 1942 to 1945. It commanded Army Ground Forces (AGF), United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), and Army Service Forces (ASF) operations north of Italy and the Mediterranean coast. It was bordered to the south by the North African Theater of Operations, United States Army (NATOUSA), which later beca... ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2023, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/57 "2023-07-29T20:59:05Z")
That what I said. It makes no sense in a thread about Special Ops. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2023, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/58 "2023-07-29T21:26:02Z")
Not special ops, but building on the truck driver who didn’t talk about hauling nukes. My friend would only tell funny stories about his time in the service. He didn’t brag about his time in combat. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2023, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/59 "2023-07-29T21:26:52Z")
Gotcha, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2023, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493/60 "2023-07-29T22:45:11Z")
It’s not a hard and fast rule that vets won’t talk about but it’s pretty common. My uncle was in WWII and Korea and would only talk about the times he was demoted except to me after I joined. He told me a lot about Korea. Real Navy SEALs might or might not tell you but they are probably writing a book about it. “Silent Professionals.” One telltale sign is if they tell you everything is classified. They may very well have been on some classified operations but the vast majority of their career would be unclassified. They can tell you what their MOS is, where and when they trained, where they were stationed… All the stuff anyone else in the military could tell you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/special-ops/987493.md?page=4)