This subject amuses me no end.
One would think that in this day and age, when communications allow for light-speed dissemination of information, that certain individuals would be somewhat cautious about pretending to be something, or having been something, that they are not now, never were, and never will be.
One would think.
LAPD SWAT currently has a roster of all individuals who ever served in “D” Platoon. Each member was assigned a numeric designation based on the pecking order in which a member entered into “D” Platoon service.
A simple phone call into Metro Division, in conjunction with a telephonic transfer to a supervisor of “D” Platoon, will provide the truth of any individual purporting to have served in SWAT.
I once worked as a technical advisor on a movie set with Jackie Chan for a particular scene. I had been on the range all day with Metro and drove straight from the range to the movie set, which was located in a hospital in the San Fernando Valley.
I called the production manager to inform him of my imminent arrival. He told me that, coincidentally, an individual was on set right now, this very minute, who was also an LAPD SWAT officer.
“Really? Who?” Well, I’d never heard that name before, and I had somewhat of a rudimentary grasp of “who’s who in the zoo” when it came to righteous “D” Platoon members, let alone Metro. “Tell him I’ll be there in about 15.”
Curious thing, the truth is. I arrived, and this person who had been on set all day, bragging about his legendary exploits on SWAT was, surprisingly, nowhere to be found. Vanished, disappeared, he had simply evaporated into the ether as if he never existed.
I found out later that he never asked for a check and they never heard from him again.
Through the years, a number of supposed L.A. SWAT officers have been unmasked as phony wanna-bes. For whatever reason, they have elected to purport themselves to be what they never were.
One individual authored a shooting book claiming to be an L.A. SWAT officer. Truth is, not only was he never in SWAT, and never in Metro, he wasn’t even a Los Angeles police officer.
Recently, a current member of SWAT was working with an old-school SEAL Team 6 member at an LAPD police facility. An LAPD officer walked by them wearing the SEAL Trident on his uniform. The Team 6 member walked a few more steps, stopped, and told the SWAT officer to wait for a minute. He walked to the officer wearing the trident and returned with trident in hand. Phony.
I had a similar experience when teaching Administrative Narcotics years ago. The officers informed me that “so and so” was always bragging about being a Navy SEAL and, quite frankly, they had their doubts and were sick and tired of his stories.
Having worked with Team 6 for some time, I knew the questions to ask. Sure enough, the bull#$@*%ing officer showed up. In front of the class, I braced him with one question after another without a single scintilla of a truthful response. He promptly left training and the officers in attendance applauded. No more bull#$@it from that poser.
A ton of SEALs are in Hollywood now. Most are righteous, but brother, are there more than enough phony frogs to go around. Watching one of these guys when they’re on a movie set trying to figure out which way the muzzle should face or where the trigger is or how those “bullity” thingies go into the magazine is downright, well, both hysterical and pathetic. Tinsel Town engenders bull#$@% like no other.
Some instructors have been unmasked for what they are (or aren’t). These are the phony SEALs, CIA “Wet- Ops” operators with 97 confirmed blade kills, Marine Recon, Army Delta, and Black-Ops operators who can only tell their paying students their real covert backgrounds, and on and on!
It gets so thick that, to borrow from Apocalypse Now, “you need wings to stay above it.” The interesting thing about this is that once unmasked, these phonies simply find other unsuspecting victims to buy into their lies. They change venues or names or organizations but alas, their B.S. continues.
Individuals such as these have many reasons to lie, including financial gain, notoriety, prestige, or possibly to impress the opposite sex or push an agenda or school.
Whatever the motivation, they should be called out for what they are. Keep in mind that first, they are essentially implying you’re too stupid to know or even deduce they are lying to you, and if you don’t call them out on it, you’re implying you believe them.
Second, they are going to continue down this path and probably embellish what is already a boldface lie to an even greater extent. Left unchecked, they will spin untruth after untruth as long as they can and in some measure, sadly, they will profit from it.
Phone calls to organizations that vet individuals purporting to be what they never were is always a good idea.
The SEALs, Special Forces, et al, have means of unmasking the posers and phonies among us. A bit of research on your part can get to the truth.
When individuals take credit for what others have worked truthfully and hard to attain, it demeans the real operators. The next time someone spins their B.S., call them out on it and let others know.
Enough righteous individuals with credible backgrounds you can learn from are out there.
Turn a cold shoulder to the phonies and posers.
