Was in LAS and saw an older Marine with a clothing bag waiting for his bag. I was drawn by the SgtMaj chevrons and asked if he needed a ride into town. His clothing bag, with dress blues, showed a serious row of ribbons including the Navy Cross and I was impressed and took it at face value. Hell I even invited him to a private party that night.
He showed up with his fiance, a dealer at one of the casinos who was a really nice woman, and he regaled us with his war stories which were pretty damned good. Many of us were former military and USMC with BS Meters, that got fooled, but as the evening wore on, the meters began going off.
He had missing fingers with good stories, and his knowledge of USMC was solid but in the end he proved to be a phoney. Good but still a phoney. At least it didn't cost anything more than a ride and it was repaid with some good stories.
Years ago I had the privilege of meeting and spending time with a delightful scoundrel, the "Great Imposter" Freddie DeMara, who was depicted in a movie of the same name and played by Tony Curtis.
Turns out Freddie was an extremely intelligent and educated man who could have passed the medical board, or a law exam with ease if he had wanted to. Spoke 6-7 languages and I challenged him in several, and he was an absolute delight to chat with. At the time he was Chaplain at a hospital and I asked if he was actually ordained, and he chuckled and said, "you'll have to take that up with God".
The imposters will always be with us and my heartburn comes when they try to make anything out of it. Then I can get really rasty and outspoken.
Aside from that, and I may be taken to task for it, they are relatively harmless. OTOH. I will not hesitate to call them out and make them prove their bonifides if the BS meter goes off. If it does, let the catcalls drive them off stage and deal with them.
Semper Fi
Rocky
