It's a good gig if you can get it. I know of a couple rather high profile female veterans who have done very well for themselves by publicly cultivating personas that are kinda-sorta-but-not-really "based on a true story."

But nobody can set the record straight because then they'd be "attacking" A) a veteran and B) a woman veteran. Both are sacred and unassailable. You just have to believe them and give them whatever they want.

One claims (via never correcting others when they write a story or introduce her as):

Fighter pilot
Deployed on a special mission with SOCOM/JSOC
Was wounded by an explosion while on mission with her team
Saw a lot of death on the battlefield
Undiagnosed TBI/PTSD

Reality:

Was involved with aircraft, but not a pilot
Was an acquisitions officer, one time, for a deployed SOCOM unit
A rocket hit the base she was on (Bagram)
The injury was unwitnessed and she did not miss duty
Only knew later on that she had TBI/PTSD from the blast when her marriage and personal life were falling apart

The other:

SWO in the Navy
Claims she was a rescue swimmer, a male dominated field comparable to Navy SEALs
Suffered a head injury while on a combat deployment
TBI/PTSD

Reality:

Was never in a Rescue Swimmer billet, but was just one of the people on the ship designated to help in a man-overboard situation
Head injury was from bumping her head after falling down a hatch
Is now a TBI/PTSD advocate and parlayed all that into an Ivy league graduate education and all sorts of other shite

This post was edited on 4/6/24 at 7:43 am

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Posted by Flashback

reading the chicken bones

Member since Apr 2008

8350 posts

Posted on 4/6/24 at 7:51 am to Longhorn Actual

quote:
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Posted on 4/6/24 at 7:42 am to rickgrimes

It's a good gig if you can get it. I know of a couple rather high profile female veterans who have done very well for themselves by publicly cultivating personas that are kinda-sorta-but-not-really "based on a true story."

But nobody can set the record straight because then they'd be "attacking" A) a veteran and B) a woman veteran. Both are sacred and unassailable. You just have to believe them and give them whatever they want.

One claims (via never correcting others when they write a story or introduce her as):

Fighter pilot
Deployed on a special mission with SOCOM/JSOC
Was wounded by an explosion while on mission with her team
Saw a lot of death on the battlefield
Undiagnosed TBI/PTSD

Reality:

Was involved with aircraft, but not a pilot
Was an acquisitions officer, one time, for a deployed SOCOM unit
A rocket hit the base she was on (Bagram)
The injury was unwitnessed and she did not miss duty
Only knew later on that she had TBI/PTSD from the blast when her marriage and personal life were falling apart

The other:

SWO in the Navy
Claims she was a rescue swimmer, a male dominated field comparable to Navy SEALs
Suffered a head injury while on a combat deployment
TBI/PTSD

Reality:

Was never in a Rescue Swimmer billet, but was just one of the people on the ship designated to help in a man-overboard situation
Head injury was from bumping her head after falling down a hatch
Is now a TBI/PTSD advocate and parlayed all that into an Ivy league graduate education and all sorts of other shite