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Earning Medals The eBay Way
from the if-you-want-something-that-badly... dept
An already decorated Vietnam vet wanted a Distinguished Service Cross so badly that he bought one on eBay. He had applied twice (and was rejected both times) for the Army to award him a Medal of Honor, and so he went out and did the next best thing - and awarded himself the medal via eBay. He even convinced the local Congressional Representative to present him with the fake Distinguished Service Cross. After the fraud was discovered, the guy has agreed to perform community service and donate $5,000 to the Army Emergency Relief Fund. eBay - where you can buy the life you didn't earn.
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not original
This isn't really orginal. People have been going to their local Army-Navy store for years to do the same thing. One unfortunate truism today is that the more harrowing a supposed vet's combat tales (particularly Vietnam) the less likely they are true. Most of the "vets" you see in the newsbytes standing in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in tattered fatigues with medals and ribbons pinned to them and sporting biker hair and beards are by and large frauds who do it for the media attention, and sadly it's these phonies that the media wants to play up because they're the stereotypical maladjusted Vietnam vets. There are websites set up to expose men who fraudulently claim to be former Navy SEALs or Green Berets. Many people do it because of the instant respect it imparts. Unfortunately because of the internet you're far more likely to be caught lying about it today. Several politicians have had their careers end when their phony combat or service records were publicly exposed by these groups.
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