Member-only story
Women Are Now Taking Part in Stolen Valor
Social media is making it easier for them to join the ranks of men faking awards they didn’t earn.
“She claimed she killed more than five people in Afghanistan when we were together.”
I hover over the iPhone keyboard and frown. The only people who can confirm their kills are typically snipers. The average soldier never knows unless they’re up close. While I was in Ramadi, Iraq, there was a guy who got a confirmed kill with a pistol during the Battle of Donkey Island. That type of instance was beyond rare. The only reason it happened was because the enemy forces were so overwhelming that the soldier ran out of rifle ammunition. As he was wading through the reeds, he encountered an insurgent wearing a suicide vest and pulled the trigger first.
I let my fingers slide over the phone. “I don’t know any of my own guys who would claim five. They’d say they don’t know. You usually only have a clue if you’re up close or a sniper. Two of my guys got Bronze Stars with Valor for a 2 against 20 fight and even they’d admit they don’t know.”
As I continue to send messages back and forth, it’s clear this guy has been taken for a ride. The woman he was romantically involved with claimed she was wounded in Afghanistan and served in an Airborne unit…
