Another phony confronted in Fresno
AverageNCO sends us a link to KMPH26 in San Joaquin Valley where another phony was confronted in the airport yesterday by Specialist Christian Parmer, who just finished his commitment to the Army as a combat engineer with a tour in Afghanistan;
Parmer says, “Before I filmed I asked to see if he really was a solider? He said yeah I’m Army EOD. I said okay, okay and I walked off. I said no this can’t be right, no solider would wear his uniform in public in that manner.”
Parmer, who served in Afghanistan as a combat engineer, and swept the roads for IED’s was so upset he notified airport police.
Officers started asking the man questions while Parmer filmed.
The video shows the man admitting the Army uniform is his step son’s. The man then claims he grabbed it out his step son’s closet because he had nothing to wear.
Parmer says the Stolen Valor Act makes it a crime to impersonate a U.S. military member, if that person attempts to benefit in any way from doing so. That includes any kind of military discounts, like free meals or falsely applying for benefits they are not entitled to.
However, in the video the man was holding a Starbucks coffee cup.
So KMPH Fox 26 News Reporter Erik Rosales asked the Starbucks employee at the airport if she recognized the man and if he received any sort of discount.
The Starbuck’s employee says yes he got a 20 percent discount for his cup of coffee.
I guess a 20% discount is a tangible benefit. But according to the article, the police asked him to leave the airport.
Here’s the video;
Too bad Specialist Parmer didn’t get his particulars.
Category: Phony soldiers
Come on guys, it’s just about a coffee cup!
A cup of coffee or a piece of candy a kid would share, goes to free meals, then money. Yes! Over a cup of coffee a real deal deserves….
You lost me Yolanda. Don’t touch my candy.
I have had it with these fuckers… I have to wonder what his step son is going to say to this asshat. Personally I would kick his fat ass up and down the street if he were mine.
My mother would probably cheer me on, if not help me do it.
Kudos to KMPH for giving this lying sh!tbag his 15 minutes of infamy.
I wish they had printed his name, although it will probably float to the surface eventually.
Frankly, my father knows better than to wear my gear, he’s 67 and would rather wear dirty clothes than to wear any piece of my uniform that I ever wore.
Shame on you, you stupid son of a bitch. Hear is to hoping your stepson kicks your sorry ass.
Hell my dad’s a fellow military retiree. (sorta the family bis, some do cops or figherfighting we do military) He asks to borrow my stuff and I’m gonna tell wear his own.
1. I bet he doesn’t have a step son.
2. He knew full well he was wearing that to be a poser.
3. I guaran-fucking-tee someone is going to out this shitbag when this hits the news and he’s going to be in a world of shit.
I agree with everything except #3. Unless this shitbag is dumb enough to double-down on his stupidity and stick to his obviously bogus claims (“I had nothing else to wear” being the Stolen Valor equivalent of “A dog ate my homework”) I doubt we’ll hear anything about him again, unless some reporter is bored and wants to investigate further.
I mean, at this point do we even know his real name?
“(“I had nothing else to wear” being the Stolen Valor equivalent of “A dog ate my homework”)”
Pretty much. 🙂
I know of no family members who would have worn my gear, nor do I know of any family members who wear my son’s or daughter’s gear…
I don’t buy the whole, “it’s the only clean thing in the house” bullshit either, you’re a grown fucking man turn on the washer you lazy prick and clean your clothes.
Or wear dirty ones. If he really has been overseas I’m sure he has had opportunity to wear not so spring fresh clothes.
What a sad little shitbag.
1) Posing in uniform….LOSER
2) Doing it in an Airport, the most paranoid of public places security wise…..LOSER
3) Drinks Starbucks……TRIPLE LOSER
We have a Hat Trick! 😀
1) Agree
2) Agree
3) AGREE! I like to call it Charbucks….
“Fourbucks”
I used to live near Fresno, and that whole part of the Central Valley has a lot of posers of all kinds there. Its how the rats that live there try to one up each other.
Don’t get me wrong, there are good people there, but the infestation of “wannabe” people is tremendous. All of the “experts” on nothing.
Glad I don’t have to live around that bullcrap anymore.
I concur…
I think whats lost in this story is the awesomeness of him being confronted at all and the airport police and reporters actually taking it seriously. Well done SPC Palmer, Airport Police and KMPH26!!!
But, KMPH26 should have spelled “soldier” correctly in the headline.
True. I have been hounding our local rag when they don’t capitalize Soldier and I actually had one of the reporters pull out some sort of editing guide they use that shows to only capitalize Marine so maybe that’s why it happens all the time. Anyone know?
I used to work for a paper in the Central Valley too. There usually is a style manual, but it goes mostly unused. The younger “journalism majors” that write the fodder get reviewed by some older fart news industry type, or another journalism major that has put in more years, or kissed the right butt.
Normal folks work at newspapers, until you walk into the reporting room, then its a whole ‘nuther world.
I remember once I caught a search and replace someone had done (this was after I’d left and had not been there for a few years) -they did a search on “black” and a replace with “African American.”
The only problem was, the story was about black Africans trying to get jobs in South Africa. I called the editor, since I knew him, he thanked me in a knowing, and gruff voice. Pity the rookie that thought they’d get one over on him for very long.
(He was of WWII vintage and is no longer with us.)
News industry was pretty stereotype when I first was in there. Big dinner plate sized ash trays full of butts on the desks, and guys with bottles in the desk drawer. Not any more! We’re all too “environmentally aware” now. What manure!
Come on! This fat fuck needed to be curbstomped. At once. WTF is this bullshit, “I didn’t have any other clothes?” One throat punch and out. Dick.
“I guess a 20% discount is a tangible benefit.” You’re damn straight it is. That’s two crimes. The first is how he looks in that uniform, the puke.
I used to stash alot of my spare gear at my parents’ house, as I just didn’t have the space in my apartment. Came over one time to see my mom gardening in one of my PT shirts, had to explain to her why that was a no-go (I’m told that apparently now you can wear the PT shirt out of uniform, I’m not 100% on that but I wouldn’t do it anyway.)
However, backyard gardening < airport mooching.
When I was home on PCS leave, me two little brothers (both ended up vets) would always snag ANY PT shirt I had, especially if it had ABN or AASLT wings in the unit design. Come to think of it, any t shirt with any army stuff on it.It was great to see a 7 and an 8 year old sporting a 187th and 501st shirt each. This was right after flintlock drill when our PT uniforms were boots, BDU pants and a unit t-shirt.
When I was in H.S. it was the cool thing to wear a piece of a uniform. No medals,but name tape and a few patches,as long as it belonged to your Dad/ big brother. What can I say? It was during the Reagan years and we loved our country.
C’mon guys, he had nothing else to wear! He’s a party looking for a red carpet to show off on. He’s an unveiling waiting for a moment. I mean seriously, isn’t this the season for digital cammo? And where else can you wear it with most effect? THE AIRPORT! Where all the others wear it! It’s like wearing a Santa suit or being an Elf at Macy’s… it’s where everybody does it!
Hey, gang’s all here!
Well looks like the holidays give us no respite from assholes.
DIPSHIT
I truly hate these scumbags. Too many good men and women have paid the ultimate price while wearing that badge. It isn’t a joke, it isn’t funny and it is a big deal. That fat fuck probably wouldn’t have the intestinal fortitude to cap in much less make the long lonely walk. He should have that uniform removed by fire.
At the very least.
Great, now we have the “it was my (son’s, stepson’s, father’s) uniform” defense. His stepson ought to do what my brother did when he caught my dad wearing his Field Jacket about 20 years ago. Back then, my brother was in a Reserve PsyOps Company that was part of a Special Forces Group (I remember they wore the Special Forces shoulder sleeve insignia on their left sleeve, can’t remember which group). He had given my dad a second field jacket that he had sterilized but caught my dad wearing the one with all of the patches at the bar. They had words and, when it was over, my dad was on the floor wondering what had just happened. What probably made things worse was that my dad had always criticized all 3 of us (my two brothers and I) for our decisions to serve so that type of hypocrisy was probably what led to my brother punching him in the mouth. Stolen Valor has always been a pet peeve of mine and I don’t forgive that transgression from anyone, including family.
Dude was probably catching a flight to see his cousin in Merritt Island, Fl.
The one that we all know and love.
I wonder if this assclown has made it to Merritt Island yet?
My dad was regular army in Korean war, he’s deceased now; (both he and my mom told me that he enlisted and his dogtag that I have confirms that, serial starts with “RA”).
Anyhow, I remember my brother and I very proudly wearing his fatigue shirts as a pre-teen/teen. The patches, insignia, labels, etc had all been removed by my mom. His shirts made awesome light jackets for us.
My son’s active duty now. I have a cap with his unit insignia, (101st), on the rear deck of my car – I’m proud of my son; but I wouldn’t dream of wearing any of his uniform including that cap.
Totally figured out who this guy looks like….
(finally)
http://media.theiapolis.com/aR/cDCDCDC/d4/e4/hM8/i1S21/r1/s1/t4/wG4/z23/eugene-levy-as-george-needleman-in-madea.jpg
Eugene Levy
I honestly can’t wait for companies to stop doing all this “10% discount for veterans” thing. They didn’t do it before the GWOT for the most part, and we were fine.
I think these “freebies” are what is motivating much of the military faker-ism we’ve seen. Take away that small incentive and it should take away at least some of the fakery.
Or to put it another way, many of the “fakers” we see are just common con artists who are working the fake vet thing as part of their con.
I don’t think the discounts are the problem. From what I’ve seen the majority of posers want the respect that comes from the uniform; not so much a dollar off a cup of coffee. Some of them do it for the discounts I’m sure, but I applaud any business that gives military members a thank you incentive. What I would like to see is businesses to ask for ID even if the person is in uniform before giving a discount.
Our military is as close a thing as we have today that represents honor, and heroism, and sacrifice. Posers are looking for the reflection of that honor, and they’ll take the freebees as a perk. The freebees aren’t the main thing, though.
They give you the option to put it on DL’s these days.
In some states, anyway.
I don’t do truck rentals,but I do work for a large DIY moving company. I can usually spot a PCS move pretty quickly in the U.S. (Sorry Canadian customers) and always ask if they got the discount. Very few ask for it,but come on…15% off of a (sometimes) several thousand dollar move? I don’t really remember Viet Nam. I have heard enough stories to know how badly active duty and returning vets were treated.
Maybe someone anonymously picking up your lunch check or small company discounts seems silly to you,MartinJmpr. We KNOW you are fine without it. To me it is a refusal to go back to those days.
If we get scammed once in a blue moon by one of these fakers,so be it.
Whoa there, Martinjmpr. You’re wanting to punish the entire unit because a few soldiers screw up. I used to hate that when a company or battalion commander did it and still do. You want to punish those of us who served legitimately for the despicable actions of a few phonies.
That 10% discount can be a very substantial benefit to old troopers like me who no longer work and are on fixed retirement income. When we bought all new appliances at Lowe’s a couple of years ago, that discount was several hundred dollars.
Other than my G.I. Bill college benefit back in the late sixties, I’ve received nothing from my federal government for six years of active duty and a tour as a grunt in Vietnam in the Airborne infantry. And yet I see other old farts who served mere months and saw no combat who are on VA disability getting several hundred dollars a month.
So taking an occasional discount from a large corporation bothers me not at all. They’re getting my business and I’m saving money so we’re both happy. If you feel strongly about such discounts then don’t take advantage of them but don’t deny them to the rest of us.
My wife likes to wear my old PT shirts and I allow it now that we have a nice new PT uniform but before I wouldn’t let her out of the house with one on. When we first got married and she was adjusting to military life, she took my truck to the PX to get some girl stuff and when she came back she was wearing my black jacket with my rank epaulettes still on it. She told me she was cold and it was the only jacket in my truck so she wore it haha. I had to have the talk with her about not wearing my uniform items.
I’m wearing my cover on indoors because…
Was I supposed to go to the airport naked?!
“I’ll take ‘He’s a dumbf**k’ for $1000, Alex.”
About 2 weeks ago I was in a store and I had a shirt on that said ARMY across the front.
A lady came upto me and ask if I was a soldier.
Well i AM A 66 year old ARMY Vietnam Veteran.
I said that I was a soldier a long time ago
She look at me and took me in her arms and would not let go I left that store with tears in my eyes.
Craig, take it as the parade we never got when we came home.
And good on her for doing it.
OC
I dislike that sniveling fuckwad as much as everyone else here does, but I relax and chuckle the moment I think “This snotweasel is gonna be just as famous as Yetmouse!”, think about it!
Love it, very well done Christian!
For the record. Bulldog1 had this up on his Facebook page when I sent it to Jonn. He had it first, I’m sure the only reason he didn’t sent it to Jonn first was because it hit the net the same time his profile on People magazine hit the net. I don’t know who gave Bulldog his nickname, but it fits!
I hope this cum-lapper enjoy his 15 minutes of phony fame…
My dad wears hats with pins from me, but ALWAYS says they are from me before he thanks the veteran who asks him about them. Wearing your son’s shirt is NOT the same as PRETENDING to be a soldier/vet.