I know a guy who wears a CIB pinned on his Vietnam Veteran hat who was stationed in Germany and Arkansaw. Never went to Vietnam and never saw a shot fired in anger. This dude wears an 82nd Airbourne patch, jump wings, Ranger tab, and scroll. He told me on two different occasions that he was 17 in 1974 and was sent to Germany where he served a couple of years and then came back to the States to finish his enlistment. He was in a mortar unit attached to the 82nd in Germany. Said, "We were the same as them." People tell him "Thank you for your service" all the time and he grunts and nods his head pretending to get teary-eyed. One guy at a local ballgame brought his son over to shake this pretender's hand and told the kid, "Now you can say you have shaken hands with a hero." When this cat wears his vet outfit, which is often, I want to punch him in the throat. He is in my son in laws family and I bite my tongue to keep the family peace but damn it is tough sometimes.
