How do you spot someone who is lying about his/her military experience if you don’t have military experience and there’s no way
There are many great answers here with examples that hit so close to home from my own experiences from talking with the fake, the honest, and the overly-exaggerative. I'll try and add some other thoughts though.First of all, from a non-military POV, you can use common sense to deal with the most common violations. You may be surprised at how well you are already equipped to identify these. For starters, Special Forces, Classified Ops, etc., are called Special and Classified for a reason.There are very few Special Forces personnel compared to the entire size of the military. This means it is highly unlikely that you will actually encounter someone. This doesn't mean that you won't meet someone that was actually Special Forces, but it does mean that you will not likely meet many of them. So, without any military experience, you should be able to raise doubt pretty quickly.When something is "classified" it does not mean "its ok to go around telling your friends you do/did 'classified' stuff." Think about this some, if a person really did something secretive, would they just tell you, or would they tell you about the non-classified stuff they did instead? Your common sense knows better.Now a couple more thoughts from a military perspective.I quoted the word classified above several times, because if someone uses this word to describe their experience, it is either fake or overly-exaggerated. Classified is actually the LOWEST security clearance, and the frequent use of the word is heavily exaggerated by movies and TV. We don't actually talk like that. If someone is claiming that they can't talk about their work because it is "classified" they are basically telling you that what they did isn't really all that secret and they are really only interested in trying to impress you.When casually talking with people, the people who had a classified, or greater, clearance most likely won't even tell you that they worked on this stuff. Especially the people who held very high clearances. The higher the clearance, the more important or valuable the information. The higher the clearance, the less likely someone is going to mention it.Also, secrets are based on what is called "need to know." What this means is that even if someone has a certain clearance, they do NOT have access to all information within that clearance. They will only have access to information that they have a specific and direct need to know in order to perform their duties. Believe it or not, even having a very high clearance does not mean you have access to lower classifications of information. If you don't need to know, you don't get to know.If someone is telling you a story about something they did alone, they are probably lying. Military members do very little alone. In fact, some of the most elite military are Marine Scout Snipers, and they always operate in pairs. Other elite military like Navy SEALS operate in small teams.If someone is seemingly eager to tell you a story about combat or an operation, they are probably lying or exaggerating to impress you. The majority of stories that people are going to be eager to tell you are going to be either really funny or really stupid, or some combination of both.It is not a contest. If you see a couple of "vets" talking about their experience bragging, or seemingly one-upping each other, they are liars. Serving your country is not a contest. Whether you serve in the capacity of Special Forces, or an Admin clerk in payroll, you have my respect, and you have the respect of others. I really can't stress this enough. It is not a contest.Lastly, from my own point of view. I do not usually advertise my military experience, nor do I feel the need to do so. However, I do tend to talk about my experiences a lot, but it is usually because I remember a funny story, or have some kind of knowledge about a particular country that I was stationed in or that I deployed to once. A lot of times I talk about my military experience because someone happens to be talking about a topic that I have relevant knowledge or experience in as a result of serving my country.Finally, like Jonas says, I don't necessarily seek out friends based on military service. However, I'll add that I wouldn't be disappointed if I were introduced to other vets, if they are "real." Being a Marine represents a major part of my life and my identity. I am a Marine. I was not just "in the Marine Corps." And I definitely will never be able to refer to myself as "I was a Marine." I would, and do, appreciate meeting other real vets, especially Marines. Other Marines understand me in a way that no one else can, even if/though we served in different times.
