Poser of the Day/Week

What do you mean "kinda close..."

Snakes are posers too...The non-venomous scarlet snakes are posers.


For that matter, also some Milk snakes

 

Indeed!...in an earlier post I had a baby file snake come in...i thought it looked suspiciously like a brown snake (10 times deadlier than a king cobra) so I still tried to catch it, but it kept striking at me so I called in the snake catcher...anyhow, I told the catcher what I thought it was, only to be told it was a baby file snake and harmless...looking sheepish, she then said its survival when young depended on them looking and being as aggressive as a brown snake...so I didn't feel so bad...
Wouldn't impress a kookaburra, but the little bugger impressed me...

 

One more post about snakes and I flush the damn thread and will hand out warnings to those who ignored my fair warning .

Back to the topic now , don't ruin it .

 

Here's a case of wrongly assessing stolen valor. Bad situation all the way around.

Vietnam veteran humiliated and assaulted by active-duty Marines at Charlotte airport

 

How do you guys/gals feel about Gold Star families members wearing unit regalia in honor of their fallen? I was thinking maybe sporting a Hat like my avatar Col. Kilgore but thought it too much. I may go with a baseball cap or yellow scarf instead. First Team!!! well, almost.

 

Great idea...

 

I was thinking some drunk trooper would kick my ass for it one day. Well, for the scarf at least Not a good look everywhere.

 

I can't see any way this could be justified. Crooked ribbons on a 66 year old man do not automatically make him a poser. That aside, as soon as he showed his VA card, that should have been the end of it. Even if he didn't have a VA card, there's still no excuse for assaulting someone like that. I'm all for outing posers, but you have to be damn sure you're not accusing a decorated veteran of being a poser.

 

That has nothing to do with Charlotte. The stupidity of youth is nation-wide.

 

Could you imagine this elderly guy, if he was so privileged to be still living, being assaulted in the AP if his collar wasn't pressed?

PFC William J. GRABIARZ (No NARA ASN-Not Needed) Troop E, 5th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division. M.O.H.

 

I was directly addressing the facts in the article that A-58 posted, so it has everything to do with the Charlotte incident. These were not just youth, they were Marines who should know better. I don't put Marines, no matter how young, in the same category as the average youth. And I would say the same thing if they were Army, Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard.

As for the general stupidity of youth, that's a different topic for another thread.

 

Yeah, I like to stay on topic with the proper use of Airports, regardless of location.
WWII hero honored at Westport Airport

 

Fake Navy SEAL gets 4 years in prison

A 68-year-old Wisconsin man who falsely claimed to be a Navy SEAL wounded four times in Vietnam has been sentenced to four years in prison for theft and faking paperwork.

U.S. prosecutors say Kenneth E. Jozwiak produced fake discharge paperwork in 2014 to get U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs pension benefits intended for low-income wartime veterans.

In 2014, Jozwiak submitted a discharge certificate that claimed he served as a Navy SEAL from 1965 to 1968 and was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

All -- including the four Purple Hearts for combat injuries — were totally false, according to the U.S. Attorney's office for the northern district of Ohio.


Fake Navy SEAL gets 4 years in prison

 

I read this story today elsewhere and yes the guy is a first class turd. Been a serial grifter his whole life.

 

There is just so much wrong with this pic. I guess he might have thought that he'd be in line for some sort of high Naval appointment if Hilary got elected.

 

I guess nobody told him that John Wayne is dead.

 

Even the WWII generation is not immune. Had he related his actual service it would have been historically useful. Unfortunately, with his claiming to have been on Omaha Beach with the 29th ID, all his factitious descriptions of what it was like and what occurred has now entered print in newspaper and magazine artcles, etc. Going forward unless someone stumbles across the article where he's exposed, his falsehoods will be taken as a valid firsthand account by future researchers and writers (if they haven't already made their way into historical accounts) and we all lose.

WWII Vet Who Appeared with Obama Admits D-Day Fabrications

WW II vet who appeared with Obama admits D-Day fabrications

• By Paul Leighton Staff Writer
• Apr 25, 2018

ESSEX — A World War II veteran who spoke nationally about his participation in the D-Day invasion and stood with other veterans behind President Obama at the 70th anniversary in Normandy has admitted to misrepresenting his military record.

Morley Piper, 93, of Essex, said he was not a member of the 29th Infantry Division, which suffered heavy casualties as part of the first wave of the historic invasion, as he had claimed.

Piper’s fabrication was brought to light when someone contacted the New England Newspaper & Press Association, which has an award named in his honor.

The association said in a statement that Piper, when confronted with the allegations, admitted to making up stories about serving in the invasion force. The association said it would no longer name its annual First Amendment award after Piper.

In an interview at his Essex home Wednesday night, Piper apologized for lying about his military service. He said he served in the Army with the 459th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion and participated in the Normandy invasion but well after the 29th Infantry stormed the beaches and bore the brunt of the German resistance. Piper’s updated account of his military service could not be immediately verified Wednesday night.

Piper said he began lying about his experience when he needed a credential to attend the 50th anniversary of Normandy in 1994. He told organizers he had been a member of the 29th Infantry so that he could participate in the ceremonies, he said.

When he returned to the United States and was asked to speak about his war-time experiences, he began including the misrepresentation that he had been with the 29th Infantry, including in stories that appeared in The Salem News.

“I could have shut it off afterward, but I didn’t,” he said. “It kind of spiraled out of control.”

In speeches to various groups, including schoolchildren, Piper give details about what he said it was like on D-Day. “Inch by inch, we managed to get up off of the beach and mollify the guns,” he said in a 2015 speech to the Georgia Press Association. “We captured small towns along the beach and took the main coastal highway.”

Piper told the group that he earned a Bronze Star for heroism that day but now acknowledges that was not true.

Piper gave a speech in Normandy during events recognizing the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, and even shook hands with then-President Barack Obama during remembrance ceremonies in France.

In a message that Piper said he planned to send to friends and others affected by his fabrications, he wrote, “I am profoundly sorry that I have to tell you I am one of those sad old men with an altered WWII military record. I made a terrible mistake. It should have never happened.”

Piper, a native of Illinois, was 18 when he joined the Army. He worked in the newspaper business for more than 60 years, including 12 years at The Boston Globe and 45 as a member and eventual director of the New England Newspaper Association.

The association said its board plans to meet to determine whether any other action regarding Piper is warranted.

“I meant no harm, though it seems inadequate to say that now,” Piper wrote in his message to friends and others. “People make mistakes. Mine is inexcusable.”

Staff writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2675 or pleighton@salemnews.com.

 

This dude is going to hell....

 

You're right. Those are not regulation Star Fleet glasses. Damn posers.