History Main / PhonyVeteran

'''Ginger:''' You mean you never actually *flew* the plane?\\

* An example where the character in question exaggerates their accomplishments occurs in ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun''. While Fowler is indeed an RAF veteran, he served with a ''human'' squadron as the ''mascot'' (certain British regiments do have animal mascots, such as the Royal Welch Fusiliers' regimental goat). The other chickens think that he served as a pilot so when Ginger tells him to go pilot the airplane they built...

** It bears mentioning that at no point does Fowler actually ''lie'' about his service or even intentionally withhold the truth -- [[YouDidntAsk he just doesn't specify what he really did, and other characters made the assumption based on his vague ramblings, to the point where he's genuinely surprised they thought he was claiming to be a pilot.]]

That said, it is surprisingly easy to acquire the uniforms and even the medals for the bluff, given the ready availability of replica and genuine medals and decorations via eBay. However, given this modern age of the twitpic, Website/YouTube, Facebook, the Internet footprint, and the message board, those attempting to walt often find themselves not only exposed but widely ridiculed, as there are plenty of genuine soldiers, not to mention medal experts, who will notice their bullshit, call them on it, and very often post their antics all over the web. Many veterans organizations do ''not'' take kindly to walts, and [[https://valorguardians.com/blog/ go to great lengths]] [[http://www.stolenvalor.com/ to combat and expose them]] (or, in the case of the British [=ARmy=] Rumour [=SErvice=] - [[FunWithAcronyms ARRSE]] - [[http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Category:Infamous_Walts publicly humiliate them]]).

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

-->'''Cap''': If anyone's forgotten those values, it's you, soldier. But let's be honest. You can't forget what you never knew in the first place.

-->'''Fowler''': 644 Squadron, Poultry Division - we were the mascots.\\
'''Ginger''': You mean you never actually *flew* the plane?\\
'''Fowler''': Good heavens, no! [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome I'm a chicken! The Royal Air Force doesn't let chickens behind the controls of a complex aircraft!]]
** It bears mentioning that at no point does Fowler actually ''lie'' about his service or even intentionally withhold the truth - [[YouDidntAsk he just doesn't specify what he really did, and other characters made the assumption based on his vague ramblings, to the point where he's genuinely surprised they thought he was claiming to be a pilot.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Planes}}'': A downplayed example where Dusty's mentor [[GrumpyOldMan Skipper]] is an old reclusive war veteran who keeps telling heroic stories about his time serving in the Jolly Wrenches. When looking at the hall of fame during his stay on the ''U.S.S. Flysenhower'', Dusty is shocked to find out that [[spoiler: Skipper only flew one mission, one that failed spectacularly as his entire squadron was shot down due to him miscalculating the danger. Still, the incident has traumatized Skipper so badly, that he couldn't bring himself to fly anymore, let alone tell anyone the truth. Dusty feels betrayed by this.]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

-->'''Foster''': What were you - a drummer boy? You must've been 10 years old.

* Todd/Han's would-be brother-in-law Chad in ''Film/ThatsMyBoy'' seems to be every possible negative stereotype of a dumb hyper-aggressive Marine, until we find out that he's actually a dumb hyper-aggressive Modern Jazz dancer who wears uniforms he buys on eBay...[[spoiler: and fucks his sister]]. Up until TheReveal, he consistently gets military jargon wrong and wears a mix of Army and Marine uniforms. At the end, Donny points out how he makes real veterans look bad, in addition to all the other ways that he's an asswipe.

* In his account of the making of the UsefulNotes/NavySeals, ''Damn Few'', veteran Rorke Denver recounts the night his Seal unit went for a beer to find a guy sitting at the bar who was claiming to be a SEAL. His dress, attitude, demeanor, and presentation were subtly wrong and a long-suffering waitress tipped them off that "Billy" used his Seal status to scare people. The least threatening real Seal was sent to [[ImpostorExposingTest quiz the suspicious Billy]] about where he'd been, who he'd trained with, and what his combat specialties were. He failed on every test. When Billy went to the men's room, the largest and hardest Seal followed him in. A little discussion ensued and Billy ended up running for his life, stripped of his fake badges - which later ended up pinned to the real Seals' mess-room wall with a combat knife.

* [[spoiler: Inverted]] in the ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' novel ''The Taking Of Chelsea 426'' with the character of the Major, an apparently senile old duffer forever droning on about his military career, with copious hints that he's really one of these. While he does prove to have a good deal of bravery and military knowledge, the punchline comes [[spoiler: after his HeroicSacrifice, when the Doctor reads the obituary of Field-Marshal Henry Whittington-Smythe and says "I ''knew'' he wasn't really a Major!"]].

* ''Series/{{Barry}}'': Fuches actually did serve in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, but as a cook. When he tries to make his service sound more impressive than it was, Barry - usually an ExtremeDoormat - calls him out and points out he never even stepped foot in Vietnam, having spent the war working at a barrack in Connecticut.

--->'''Man''': Did he?\\
'''Eddie''': Oh yeah, he tripped over the coffee table trying to switch channels.

--->'''Eddie''': Ah, yes by 'war' I assume you mean Operation Desert Storm, by 'Burma', the Star of Burma kebab and peep show on the Uxbridge road in which you spent the entire conflict, and by 'desperate rearguard action' I take it you are referring to the time you accidentally went into the same cubicle as Mad Quentin Trousers-Down Pervy O'Blimey.\\
'''Richie''': I was doing my bit, Eddie. I was doing my bit.

-->'''Sam''': Ah! Military ID! "Sgt. Walter Keller. Born 1944" That makes you about 38. You must have fought in 'Nam!\\
'''Kid''': Oh yeah.\\
'''Sam''': What was it like?\\
'''Kid''': Gross.\\
'''Sam''': Yeah, that's what they say. "War is gross". ''[gives back the ID]'' I'm sorry, soldier.\\
'''Kid''': ''[beat]'' This is the thanks we get.

* An episode of ''Series/{{House}}'' (the episode after House has gone back to working at Princeton Plainsboro, after recovering from [[spoiler: going insane and then realizing that only diagnostics gives him the constant thrill he needs to keep the pain down, now that Vicodin is no longer an option]]) features a very cranky man with one arm, living in the apartment below Wilson's. Allegedly he served in Vietnam, which is where he lost his arm. Subverted in that he actually did serve - but as part of the peacekeeping force enforcing the Paris Peace Accords after the war ended. And not in the U.S. Army; he's actually [[spoiler: a Canadian citizen]] who lost the arm [[spoiler: while trying to save a kid from a landmine in a country ''near'' Vietnam.]] He's irritable for much the same reasons House is: he's in constant pain, due to phantom limb pain; House [[spoiler: fixes this]] and the guy ''breaks down crying with relief'' because [[spoiler: for the first time in over thirty years, he isn't in agony.]] It's never made clear whether he stopped claiming he was in 'Nam - it's implied, when he's telling House what really happened to his arm, that he just finds it easier to let people think it was 'Nam rather than deal with the questions that the truth would spur.

** ''[[Series/NCISLosAngeles Los Angeles]]'': One episode saw Sam being arrested for a woman's murder with his fingerprints found on a watch at the scene. When the {{UsefulNotes/FBI}} Agent and the prosecutor in charge of the case make it clear they're more interested in bringing down a "corrupt" federal agent than actually investigating, the team does it for them. [[spoiler: It's revealed to have been a man Sam went to SEAL training with before being drummed out and responded by stealing from those who '''did''' in order to pass himself off as a SEAL.]]. To the amusement of the team, the suspect starts crying when it seems Sam's gonna help him. They're also forced to work with "The SEAL Hunter" who runs a web series exposing similar similar imposters [[note]] Which given the amount of training and commitment it takes to become one understandably pisses him off. That and he's a little(?) nuts...[[/note]]

* ''Series/ThePunisher2017'': O'Connor is an alleged Vietnam War vet who constantly shows off his Silver Star he says he won in combat. He uses this background to support his AngryWhiteMan RightWingMilitiaFanatic spiels about how society is going to the pits, and insults the [[ShellShockedVeteran Shell-Shocked Veterans]] for being "pussies". It's ultimately revealed that he only briefly served, long ''after'' the Vietnam War had ended, and never saw combat, let alone did anything that would have earned a Silver Star. [[spoiler: This ends up getting him killed in an undignified way.]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', Coach Oleander's mindscape is themed entirely around war due to having served himself, which is shown in a Memory Vault containing a recollection of the battles he took part in. [[spoiler: Upon revisiting the level, you can find a Memory Vault that reveals that Coach Oleander ''made everything up''. According to the memory, he was never involved in a war and was actually rejected by quite literally every branch of the military, including the ''catering corps'', just because of his height. Granted, as an official Psychonaut, he ''is'' a government agent - not quite military, but close enough.]]

* Principal Longfellow from ''Webcomic/BetterDays'', while courting Sheila Black, claimed to be a Vietnam veteran who served with Sheila's husband Jim, who died there. In fact, he only briefly served at a supply depot in Okinawa and had never even met Jim. When his lie was exposed, he [[AttemptedRape attempted to rape Sheila]]. [[spoiler: Later it turns out Jim wasn't honest about his time in the military either, albeit for [[NoSuchAgency different reasons]].]]

* In the ''Webcomic/VGCats'' strip [[https://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=174 "The Big Top,"]] Leo offers to give people who can't afford an Platform/Xbox360 the chance to "live the experience", including an old man who tells war stories - "he hasn't gone to war but he does get Creator/TheHistoryChannel".

-->'''Brian:''' Next up are the Koopalings, they're sort of like the SEAL Team 6 of Bowser's army - Iggy, Larry, Lemmy, Roy, Wendy O., Ludwig Von, uh, notice that I did not include Morton Koopa Jr, because ''despite'' what he has written in his memoirs, he's never actually been active duty, and he's a valour-stealing bastard.
* On Website/YouTube, retired Navy SEAL, Senior Chief Don Shipley exposes the SEAL imposters in [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6iOPzqQdnn69zZE0xLTm2g his videos.]]

-->'''Nick''': Hey wait! I'm a hero! I was over in 'Nam fighting Charlie, I swear!\\
'''Veteran''': The only Charlie you seen in Vietnam is [[Film/{{Platoon}} Charlie Sheen]]!

** "I Never Met the Dead Man" [[PlayedForLaughs plays this for laughs]] - when Peter winds up knocking out the town's cable, he [[ButtMonkey shifts the blame onto Meg]] to get the crowd to ease off... they don't. He ''then'' [[BlatantLies claims that she'd lost a limb in Vietnam]], which the crowd buys hook, line, and sinker before dispersing.

* Cotton Hill of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' is eventually called on the fact that his stories place him in the European and Pacific theaters at the same time. It turns out that the European part was false (and it's suggested that this was simply him misremembering events rather than an attempt at stolen valor), but the Pacific part is true -- it's kind of hard to argue with a man who doesn't have ''shins'' anymore, and the Army doesn't hand out those ribbons and medals to soldiers just for asking nicely. [[spoiler: Then there's his illegitimate son conceived with a Japanese nurse he held a short affair with.]]
* Andy Anderson of ''WesternAnimation/LifeWithLouie'' ''defines'' this trope -- he has over hundreds of stories about alleged heroic acts during World War Two. When Louie actually writes them all down for a school project, other kids quickly point out how some of them are borderline impossible, require him to be in two different countries at the same time, or require him to be much older than he really is (he even had a story happening during the war in Spain, for heaven's sake!). In fact, [[spoiler: all of them are true but have been done by other veterans and Andy appropriated them because he was ashamed of his own act of heroism paling in comparison.]]

** Principal Seymour Skinner is somewhat honest about his Vietnam experiences and somewhat not. It's often hard to tell in any case because of the series' NegativeContinuity. He claims to be an ex-Green Beret and has the fighting skills to back it up (although what he employs are fairly standard self-defense techniques that he could have learned anywhere), and he also claims to have been a POW - and given the genuinely bitter, haunted way he relates this experience, it's hard to imagine that he's lying. However, Skinner ''did'' lie on one point: he claimed to be a gung-ho platoon commander, when in fact he was just a common soldier. In fact, he went so far as to ''assume the identity'' of the original Sergeant Skinner (his real name was [[SuddenlyEthnicity "Armin Tamzarian"]]), although this was primarily out of pity for (the real) Skinner's mother after her son was (supposedly) killed. Eventually, the citizens of Springfield decide to [[HandWave just drop the whole matter]], and Armin Tamzarian returns to being "Seymour Skinner."

** A very convincing 'walt', claiming service in an elite unit in Afghanistan, appears in "The Point of Balance". A mistake concerning the nickname of helicopters, and not wearing a decoration he should have been entitled to, arouse the suspicion of a genuine veteran. [[spoiler:Afraid of being exposed, and having his schemes exposed, the 'walt' blackmails an ally into killing the veteran for him.]]

* In the ''Webcomic/VGCats'' strip [[https://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=174 "The Big Top,"]] Leo offers to give people who can't afford an UsefulNotes/Xbox360 the chance to "live the experience", including an old man who tells war stories - "he hasn't gone to war but he does get Creator/TheHistoryChannel".

* A one-off example which is mostly PlayedForLaughs occurs in the ''WebVideo/DreamSMP'' when it's revealed that [=ConnorEatsPants=] tried to use a military ID he got from [[spoiler:the]] L'Manberg [[spoiler:crater]] at a Chick-fil-A to get a discount, by pretending to be the person in the ID.[[note]]Not only did Connor never take part in any major conflicts, but he wasn't even a citizen of L'Manberg, ever. Even funnier is that whoever's military ID he picked up was probably (still) ''alive and kicking'' at that point.[[/note]] This ends up being {{deconstructed|Trope}} when Sam, the Warden of the local prison, ends up arresting and imprisoning Connor for this off-screen... [[spoiler:and he gets inducted into the Jailbreak by Technoblade in the Season 3 finale six months later.]]

* For a while the Italian comic ''Lupo Alberto'' had a RunningGag of Enrico making some odd claims about his service in World War II, at different times declaring to have run around with the SS, served under Rommel (who apparently stole his wallet), and been in the crew of a US bomber. While these ''could'' have been possible due to Italy switching sides in the war, a later story makes clear he was lying when Alberto says Enrico makes up stories about having served in the air force during ''The UsefulNotes/PunicWars'' and Enrico ''immediately'' starts telling a story involving himself, Scipio Africanus, and the Red Baron.

* Sgt. Colon from the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series actually ''was'' in the military, but he exaggerates his accomplishments. In the Watch, he's the resident DeskJockey, so most other characters believe that he stayed in the back as much as possible in the army as well (some of his comments imply he actually did see combat, and [[WarIsHell didn't enjoy it one bit]].

* A one-off example which is mostly PlayedForLaughs occurs in the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'' when it's revealed that [=ConnorEatsPants=] tried to use a military ID he got from [[spoiler:the]] L'Manberg [[spoiler:crater]] at a Chick-fil-A to get a discount, by pretending to be the person in the ID.[[note]]Not only did Connor never take part in any major conflicts, but he wasn't even a citizen of L'Manberg, ever. Even funnier is that whoever's military ID he picked up was probably (still) ''alive and kicking'' at that point.[[/note]] This ends up being {{deconstructed|Trope}} when Sam, the Warden of the local prison, ends up arresting and imprisoning Connor for this off-screen... [[spoiler:and he gets inducted into the Jailbreak by Technoblade in the Season 3 finale six months later.]]

** In one episode Elliot's father, the Chief of Medicine of a high-priced private hospital, visits Scared Heart and claims it's the worst he's seen since [[UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar Korea]]. Dr. Kelso, a Korean War veteran who actually served in combat, sarcastically replies "Oh, where in Connecticut was your National Guard unit posted?"

** It bears mentioning that at no point does Fowler actually ''lie'' about his service or even intentionally withhold the truth - he just doesn't specify what he really did, and other characters made the assumption based on his vague ramblings, to the point where he's genuinely surprised they thought he was claiming to be a pilot.

* When Wyatt Earp first meets Tom Mix in ''Film/{{Sunset}}'', Earp mentions the articles about Mix's service with the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War and asks why there were a lot of drawings but no photos. Mix embarrassedly admits that those stories were a product of the studio publicity machine and that he'd never served.

* The bum harassing D-FENS in ''Film/FallingDown'' uses this as one of his excuses to get money from him, claiming to be a Vietnam veteran despite only being around 30 at most.
-->'''D-FENS''': What were you - a drummer boy? You must've been 10 years old.

* JerkAss cadets Copeland and Blankes from ''Film/PoliceAcademy'' are both [[MistakenForBadass mistaken for military vets]] by Lt. Harris because of their buzzcuts (neither was aware that the police have much more lenient hairstyle regulations than the military) and made into his go-to snitches. Blankes, the slightly smarter of the two, runs with it and lies about serving in the 209th Airborne; the incredulous look on Copeland's face makes it obvious that Blankes is pulling this prior military service out of his ass.

** In one episode, Homer claims to be a Vietnam vet in order to get free admittance to the State Fair telling the ticket vendor that he lost his friends at the [[RefugeInAudacity Battle of]] Creator/MargaretCho.

* In ''Series/DadsArmy'', Captain Mainwaring sometimes goes on about his service in the Great War, although he actually served in 1919 after the war had ended. It's especially ironic as he leads a platoon full of genuine veterans, including a Military Medal recipient.

* In an episode of ''Series/TheRebel'', Johnny runs into a man from his own past who was a guard at the prison camp Johnny escaped from and claims to have been wounded in combat, with four scars on his chest to prove it. Johnny eventually reveals to the man's brothers that after Johnny escaped from the camp, the man got reassigned to a frontline unit as punishment and immediately deserted and hid in a hayloft, where he was stabbed in the chest by a farmer with a pitchfork (which is why the "bayonet" wounds are all in a straight line), then taken to a Confederate field hospital, where he met Johnny again.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'', while stuck in the 1950's, Marty uses the cover identity of a returning Coast Guard to explain away his 80's-era clothing.

* ''Series/LastManStanding'': After Mike insults one of Vanessa's friends during a party she hosted, Vanessa gets angry and makes him promise to keep his opinions to himself when they go out to dinner with her and her new boyfriend. During the dinner, the boyfriend talks about his experiences as a Navy S.E.A.L., but Mike, being the son of a Korean War veteran as well as having an interest in military history and weaponry, quickly realizes that he's a fraud and struggles to not call him out on it. [[spoiler:Vanessa finally lets him off the leash after discovering the friend wasn't planning on inviting them to a future party even after they made amends.]]

* Gru from ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'' had his minions write up false personal achievements for him. One of them was declaring that he had been awarded the Medal of Honor in 1991.

That said, it is surprisingly easy to acquire the uniforms and even the medals for the bluff, given the ready availability of replica and genuine medals and decorations via Website/EBay. However, given this modern age of the twitpic, Website/YouTube, Facebook, the Internet footprint, and the message board, those attempting to walt often find themselves not only exposed but widely ridiculed, as there are plenty of genuine soldiers, not to mention medal experts, who will notice their bullshit, call them on it, and very often post their antics all over the web. Many veterans organizations do ''not'' take kindly to walts, and [[https://valorguardians.com/blog/ go to great lengths]] [[http://www.stolenvalor.com/ to combat and expose them]] (or, in the case of the British [=ARmy=] Rumour [=SErvice=] - [[FunWithAcronyms ARRSE]] - [[http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Category:Infamous_Walts publicly humiliate them]]).

* Todd/Han's would-be brother-in-law Chad in ''Film/ThatsMyBoy'' seems to be every possible negative stereotype of a dumb hyper-aggressive Marine, until we find out that he's actually a dumb hyper-aggressive Modern Jazz dancer who wears uniforms he buys on Website/EBay...[[spoiler: and fucks his sister]]. Up until TheReveal, he consistently gets military jargon wrong and wears a mix of Army and Marine uniforms. At the end, Donny points out how he makes real veterans look bad, in addition to all the other ways that he's an asswipe.