Poser's and Bling..

[JJ_BPK]

Nice to know at least one commercial outfit is trying to do their part to restrain POSERS..



The Soldier’s Medal, Navy & Marine Corps Medal, Airman’s Medal & the Coast Guard Medal
On August 5, 2015

Last month, we did an article clarifying the National Defense Service Medal regulations. This was in response to some confusion regarding how and when it is awarded. This month, we’ll look at some other awards that we frequently see out of regulation. In contrast to issues with the NDSM, which is usually an innocent mistake, there are a set of awards that are a red flag for what we consider possible Stolen Valor cases.

Each branch of service has an award that is little known and rarely actually seen on a uniform. These are the awards for non-combat heroism. There is the Soldier’s Medal, the Navy & Marine Corps Medal, the Airman’s Medal, and the Coast Guard Medal.

First off, the eligibility for these awards all reads the same (aside from the branch named):

“May be awarded to a person who, while serving in any capacity with the Coast Guard, distinguishes him or herself by heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy…”

But not just your vanilla heroism! The regulation goes on:

“To justify this decoration, individuals must have performed a voluntary act of heroism in the face of great danger to themselves and such as to stand out distinctly above normal expectations.”

The fact that these awards are for non-combat incidents of valor is what makes them so rare. Not only does an individual have to help another with disregard to the danger to himself, but he has to be at the right place at the right time.

The Military Times Hall of Valor lists only 6,373 recipients of all of these awards, together. In comparison, there are 76,078 entries for the Silver Star with an estimated 104,928 awarded. (The Hall of Valor is not a complete list. There are definitely more recipients, the numbers reflect the rarity of the awards well. It’s not a complete list for the Silver Star either.)

http://www.myservicepride.com/content/soldiers-medal-navy-marine-corps-medal-airmans-medal-coast-guard-medal/?utm_source=MSP%20Master%20Email%20List&utm_campaign=aaa746acaa-New_Product_nylon_wallet8_4_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_36a00b946b-aaa746acaa-341486949&mc_cid=aaa746acaa&mc_eid=77fb2e0765

[Team Sergeant]

I'd take what some do with a grain of salt. Take Doug Sterner, he doesn't like anyone being an internet bully. Doug Sterner says that anyone that hunts/exposes these cowards is a "Stolen Valor Vigilante".

I sent him an email, he didn't respond. Not surprising. Maybe I should get his records......:munchin






Even some highly decorated veterans have a tendency to do this," said Sterner, who has assembled a Hall of Valor database.

As a master sergeant, Barbee's claims to have a Bronze Star and other combat awards would have been believable, he said. But his claim of being a Ranger was particularly egregious.

"Rangers are an elite group, like SEALs, like Special Forces. It really bothers me when I see someone trying to put themselves in an elite or a very select group," Sterner said.

Fewer than 80,000 troops have graduated from Ranger school since it opened in the early 1950s, said 1st Sgt. Joseph Hester of the 4th Ranger Training Battalion. The group, which has been involved in most every combat action since the Revolutionary War, takes pride in its lineage.

"It's a small community, it's a tight community, and some people want to belong to that but not put in the work to get there," he said.

Rangers are often promoted more quickly than others, so some might claim to be a Ranger in an attempt to bolster their careers, Hester said.

"I don't know why they just don't take their career or whatever they did in the military and be proud of that," he said. "But I understand some people want to embellish and say they're something they're not to make themselves better."

In one of the most high-profile stolen valor cases in recent decades, Adm. Jeremy Boorda, chief of naval operations and the highest-ranking officer in the Navy, shot and killed himself in 1996 amid questioning of the legitimacy of two "V" devices for valor that he wore for his service during the Vietnam War. In his suicide note, he called wearing the decorations "an honest mistake."

Today, the seriousness of stolen valor has led to a plethora of veterans hunting for phony awards, Sterner said, with some veterans' groups aggressively leveling baseless charges against other vets. Sterner described them as "bullies."

"We're seeing more and more false charges being leveled against people by veterans who are jumping the gun," he said. "That's what concerns me. It's almost turning into a vigilante thing out there."


http://www.military.com/daily-news/2015/07/06/stolen-valor-can-also-be-a-problem-among-active-duty-troops.html