If you’ve ever talked to someone trying to “steal valor,” or otherwise lying or embellishing about their military service, they almost always follow a particular pattern:

1. They were “Special Forces.”
   • Mind you, these “Special Forces” are always vague and non-specific. Were they Navy SEALs? Delta Force? Who knows! Can’t be too specific or someone might look into it.
2. They can’t talk about it… Because, you know, special forces and top secret missions and stuff.
   • Conveniently, their service was so special and so secret, they won’t show up on any kind of list or database, should one want to check.

Have you ever met a Marine? A real Marine doesn’t shut the fuck up about being a Marine and doing Marine stuff. A real Marine (or other service member) has stories. Tons of them. Even about the secret stuff! The objective may have been secret, but let me tell you about how I tripped in a ditch filled with 4 feet of shit-water because I could only see in a 20 degree cone in front of me with night vision, or how Stephens shit his pants on the ride back, etc.

Real Special Forces don’t keep it a secret. Sure, they might not tell you all the details you don’t need to know, but I’ve met plenty of SEALs, Delta Force, and others, and not a single one of them wouldn’t tell you exactly what they were and who they are. Hell they probably even have a podcast and a new book coming out for you to learn more about it.

Never believe anyone if they tell you their service was too secret to talk about, because they are surely full of shit. I have to assume there are in-fact real operators out there in complete secrecy, but you wouldn’t know it, would you?