Man Accused of “Stolen Valor”, Wearing Military Uniform for Priority Boarding

The @armedgreen TikTok account has previously uploaded videos dealing with the concept of "stolen valor," which is a phenomenon in which people pretend to have served in the military.

My Base Guide describes the phenomenon as when "civilians who did not serve the United States claim to have been a part of the Armed Forces," and that "some do it for a false sense of pride. Others are looking to gain military benefits, and others… well, it's hard to explain something so immoral."

A recent video uploaded to the account shows an individual confronting an airplane passenger they suspect of lying of serving in the armed forces. The individual wears army fatigues, presumably to get priority boarding on the airplane. Military personnel are usually able to board aircraft the same time as first class passengers, allowing them quicker access to overhead storage bins and more time to get settled in the plane before other fliers.

Fake military IDs can also be used by individuals to help secure discounts at retailers for various goods and services, including several airlines as well.

And in a recent video posted to the @armedgreen, it would appear that someone was participating in a bit of stolen valor themselves in order to enjoy either one or some of the aforementioned "perks" of lying to folks about serving in the military.

An individual off-camera can be seen recording a man wearing full military fatigues as he is preparing to board a flight.

"Hey thanks for your service," the person off-camera tells the flier before going into a brief discussion about the weather.

They don't take long to broach the subject of "stolen valor" to the flier though, referencing that there are some videos online that deal with the phenomenon the person might want to check out.

"There are these people and they have the audacity to get mad they wear the uniform pretending to be soldiers you know looking people in the face telling them they served," the person recording the clip says.

"Oh my God," the individual wearing army fatigues says with a look of concern on his face.

"It's just unreal," the person behind the camera says while urging the flier to look up the videos online. At this point in the clip the flier looks away for a brief moment after calling the phenomenon "crazy."

"Because real veterans can see when people are lying, right?" the man off camera says.

"Right," the passenger agrees.

Not getting off the conversation, the man off camera references the flier's "combat patch" and then asks him who he's with, before correcting himself and saying it's not a combat patch, it's a "unit affiliation patch."

The flier can be seen becoming increasingly uncomfortable throughout the clip, he checks his phone as the man off camera continues his line of questioning.

He asks the man where he went to college and he tells them that he went to "Miami of Ohio," before asking more granular military terminology, but it becomes clearer and clearer that the passenger isn't understanding some of the things the man behind the camera is referring to.

"You're wearing the rank of commission officer in the United States Army. So people typically know how they got there rank when they wear it. But it doesn't seem like you do," the man tells the passenger, who appears taken aback.

"So I'm not gonna make a scene, I'm not gonna tear you apart here in front of all these people."

"Yeah you shouldn't, would you like to see my ID?" the person says while putting his phone down.

"Yeah," the guy off camera responds.

The flier then goes through his belongings to retrieve the card. He then pulls it out and hands it over, "right there," however as one commenter mentioned, it identification card he presented appeared to be a "driver's license."

A number of TikTokers remarked that they thought it was readily apparent the passenger was lying about their military experience and the outfit that they were wearing, as, in their estimation, he appeared extremely nervous and uncomfortable whenever he was asked a question by the person behind the camera.

Have you ever flown and had your suspicions about folks in uniform? Why do you think priority boarding matters to so many people, especially since the plane is going to leave at the same time regardless of when you get on it?