This isn’t a sure-fire tactic but mumble something to him.
Rather than say “What?” or “Excuse me?” former military tend to use “Say again” when they need something repeated. Particularly if they were recently discharged.
Ask him what’s the color of the boathouse at Hereford.
Ask what type of gun he had. Members of the service do not use guns. They use weapons. You should get corrected on this.
About being corrected on various terms: Some people just aren’t pedantic or don’t bother correcting civilians’ misuse of certain terms. Do former members of the military really constantly correct civilians on terminology in casual conversations?
If he saw “The Pacific” he might get some stories from that.
ETA: Whoa. Five Navy Crosses. And a DSC and an Air Medal, somehow. And just about everything else you could get.
I seem to recall a news story about a bunch of imposter marines at a checkpoint getting called out by the guard asking them when the Marine Corp was founded - which I assume is something that all Marines are supposed to know. They gave the wrong answer and the guard drew his weapon and arrested the imposters. Maybe that might work provided you know the correct answer. Not being a marine, I have no clue what the answer is, however.
shoot, not only is Ft. Bragg an army base, it isn’t a basic training post. what an oxygen theif.
Gomer Pyle went to boot camp 
Can someone explain me this ref, not the first time I see it, and I have watched Ronin way too long ago to remember exactly.
BTW, isnt it ironic that every time someone mentions a wanna be ex marine, they all claim to have learned their basics at Fort Bragg. What an aptly mentioned installation.
While we’re at it, even though it isnt GQ or GD, can someone explain to me this whole recurring “lying Marine” thing in the States. It seems to appear regularly, I’m not aware of something equivalent in other countries.
But Fort Bragg was a basic training post. Been there, done that in 1969.
But you are right, the guy is lying.
Say “oh, so you’re an ex-marine”? If he’s a real marine it’ll be about 0.00009 nano-seconds before he’ll snap “FORMER marine, never Ex”.
—>Former girlfriend of former marine 
As to switching services. I don’t know for sure, but I can’t imagine the marines saying “oh, you’ve been through army basic training? No problem, we’ll just sign you up, you don’t need to go through boot camp”. Whereas the less hardcore services would be more likely to crossover with no need to retake basics. I know I almost switched to Army at one point, and there was no requirement to retake basics.
My little sister, who was full time guard as well as being a weekend warrior, switched between Air Force and Army guard a couple of times, and she only had the very first set of basics she’d done the first time.
Unless things have changed since I was in, boot camp is three months long for marines, Army is 8 weeks, I don’t know what Navy is, and Air Force is only 6 weeks (they tend to coddle the brains of the outfit :D). Not only is boot camp three months long, but it’s sheer hell from what I understand. Marines are understandably proud of that, and I seriously doubt that they’d forget where they did their boot camp.
girl, don’t even ask him another question. that’s your moral GPS going off. your own personal compass that points True North. leave it, go & don’t look back
It is not unknown here (Australia) for folk to claim “Vietnam Vet” status and even to march in parades with unearned medals. Obviously not happening as often now.
IANAM, but: Compared to other countries which have compulsory national service and/or don’t get into wars very often, military and ex-military in the US tend to get a lot of respect or street cred, since they had to volunteer for a job with a very real possibility of getting sent to fight and die on the other side of the world. Marines in particular have the reputation of being the biggest badasses to ever put on a uniform (aside from Rangers or Navy SEALs, maybe), and so they’re an appealing target for pretense to the sort of person who’s bent on having the whole room ooh and aww at their presence.
Start talking about your (or a friends) DD214. This is a discharge document provided to all honorably discharged military and you need a copy to apply for any veterans benefits. Years ago, I had to supply mine for a VA loan and education benefits. It’s something you keep for the rest of your life and printed on the top in bold is “SAFEGUARD THIS”.
Without specifying what it is, as him where he keeps his and if he’s ever considered using it for anything or if he thinks it’s something that’s useful or should it simply be trashed. He should be familiar with it.
Here’s a pretty clean extract of the scene in question on YouTube. The important bits run from time index 1:10 to 3:20.
Basically, it’s a bullshit question Sam (DeNiro) poses Spence (Bean), not in expectation of a factual answer, but to see his reaction; he freezes up. Hence Sam’s “How the fuck should I know?” in response to Gregor (Skaarsgard).
Hitting and destroying a convoy of vehicles can be done from a static position, as Spence begins to (very ineptly) illustrate by putting two positions directly opposite each other with their line of fire pointed at each other.
Do I need to explain why putting two fighting positions with their respective axis of fire pointed directly at one another is a Very Bad Idea?
But the goal is not to destroy the convoy, it is to stop it, so that they may capture someone or something in it. Thus, the “rolling ambush” they actually use is a much better tactic. It separates the security detail into discrete, “bite sized nuggets” that the smaller “Ronin” team can hadle.
Having just pointed out that the diagrammed ambush would involve the gunmen being in each other’s line of fire, Robert De Niro wants to expose Sean Bean as a poser rather than a former SAS badass turned mercenary. He asks what color the boathouse at Hereford was. Sean Bean promptly hems and haws while refusing to answer the question, awkwardly backpedaling away from Robert De Niro (and into the cup of coffee De Niro placed just so for an impromptu ambush, since De Niro takes away the guy’s sidearm with no trouble at all once Bean distracts himself).
De Niro is then asked what color the boathouse is. “How the fuck should I know?”
My brother has changed from Marines, to Army, and now to Navy. He did not have to take basic again. He trained for 11 weeks in San Diego in 1978 or thereabouts.
(He served in Iraq in the Gulf War, and Afghanistan in recent years. I’m very proud of him!)
Gomer was a jarhead … and there is no boathouse, if you really must know.