Civilian Who Provoked Outrage After Wearing a Military Uniform Speaks Out - Polidicks

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COIIt9t1ZJs[/media] [quote]MODESTO, Calif. – Joseph Scott said he never intended harm to anyone or disrespect to the military - he was trying to do just the opposite. "I was just supporting my cousins and my family in the military. And to those who I upset and made mad, I do apologize," Scott said from outside his grandfather's Modesto home. Two weeks ago, Scott, 22, was confronted by veterans on the Delta College campus for wearing an Airborne Rangers uniform. Scott never served in the military. The confrontation with campus veterans escalated, and eventually led to the arrest of one man by Delta College police officers for disturbing the peace and making threats. Police later received threats from anonymous callers. Many from outraged vets who insisted Scott had broken the law and should have been the one arrested. Delta College police said Scott was within the law. "[U.S. Attorney General's office] states, there is no enforceable action we could have taken against [Scott] without violating his constitutional rights," Delta College police officer Jim Bock explained. "I want to apologize to the Delta police officers for the threats they've been getting," Scott said. Scott said he has wanted to join the U.S. Army for a long time, but failed his Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test. He took special education classes and never graduated from high school. Scott's grandfather Joe Scott said his grandson suffered a serious event at age three that left him with post traumatic stress disorder. "He tried to pass ASVAB test entry exam at age 17 and he has failed and he has studied, and I mean studied diligently," Joe Scott said. At Delta College, his grandfather said Joseph Scott met a recruiter who gave him fresh hope. "The recruiter talked to him and befriended him and gave him certain information he needed to be able to purchase a uniform and told him he'd help him to get into the service," Joe Scott said. Joseph Scott was turned down again, but began wearing the uniform he had bought. When he was confronted, Joseph Scott said he was caught off-guard.[/quote] [url]http://www.news10.net/story/news/local/community/2014/03/21/civilian-explains-why-he-donned-military-uniform/6683771/[/url] Video in source.

I feel bad for him, unable to serve because of his special needs.

Wow, what the fuck.

those meatheads need to grow up. who gives a shit if he's wearing an army uniform? not like he was wearing medals or whatever (and even that is a stupid thing to get angry about unless they're using it for nefarious reasons) [editline]26th March 2014[/editline] then sending threats to the cops lol. really doing the uniform proud fellas.

I can understand the guy's side. I wear an Air Force cap for a few reasons, among which I include supporting the men and woman of our armed forces. However I catch a lot of flack for it with the main reasons seeming to be that people think I'm trying to impersonate an Air Force officer of something. But really it's just a nice hat, I bought it from a retired army guy's surplus shop, and it shows support of the Air Force, that's all.

[quote] Many from outraged vets who insisted Scott had broken the law.[/quote] Lol why should it be illegal?

I can honestly see where the rangers are coming from, People have fought and died in those uniforms. And Im sure the rangers lost some good friends while enlisted, You dont just wear a military uniform just for the fun of it, its disrespectful to the branch. And there would be a lot of fake vets around if people did this more often. And if the guy wants to support the branch wear srmy merchandise, I wear a shit ton of Marine merchandise, just not the uniform

[QUOTE=Native Hunter;44358893]I can honestly see where the rangers are coming from, People have fought and died in those uniforms. And Im sure the rangers lost some good friends while enlisted, You dont just wear a military uniform just for the fun of it, its disrespectful to the branch. And there would be a lot of fake vets around if people did this more often. And if the guy wants to support the branch wear srmy merchandise, I wear a shit ton of Marine merchandise, just not the uniform[/QUOTE] I would turn your argument around and say that it can be RESPECTFUL to the branch because he's trying to give them recognition, he's not attempting to taint the US military, so let the guy do what he wants. Its all about the motive my friend. (though he should of had gotten the regiment number right to the branch)

dumbasses ! they earned nothing, they fought for a man sitting in a chair telling them what to do for money. I have a lot of friends in the army, but this is not how to act as someone who serves the people

[QUOTE=Sobotnik;44358848]Lol why should it be illegal?[/QUOTE] Maybe they assumed it's like wearing a police officers uniform (which is impersonating an officer.)

[QUOTE=_Maverick_;44359011]Maybe they assumed it's like wearing a police officers uniform (which is impersonating an officer.)[/QUOTE] I think it has more to do with Stolen Valor or whatever it's called, where people try to get credit for being in the military from people, often in extremely subtle ways [img]http://nokoolaidzone.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/bad-marine.jpg[/img]

I don't think it's illegal, but it's still dickish, like dressing up as a doctor or a medic or fire-fighter.

mainwaring anyone? :v: [img]http://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/imageArchive/images/5200_gall_001.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=Ericson666;44359077]I think it has more to do with Stolen Valor or whatever it's called, where people try to get credit for being in the military from people, often in extremely subtle ways [img]http://nokoolaidzone.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/bad-marine.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] That walking soup sandwich is hardly what I'd call "subtle".

Woah, this is on my campus and I've never saw this going down in person. Just recently some dude was arrested for being suspected of terrorist plotting. I would have never thought my nothing-ass junior college could have all this excitement.

I feel sorry for him since he can't [I]pass the ASVAB[/I], getting a low score would eget you a shitty MOS, but failing it is kind of like failing an IQ test. But wearing ranger markings and rank is not "supporting the troops". I understand that the aggression seems unreasonable to civilians, but he was slacking around with ranger tabs and uniform to look cool. You wouldn't be too happy if someone faked your qualifications, skills and group, and made you look bad because of it. Thank fuck stupid shit like this is illegal in Norway and heavily fined.(1k USD per pay grade faked) [editline]26th March 2014[/editline] I gotta say though that their reaction was pretty dumb, they acted like morons instead of just calling him out, laugh a bit and move on.

Ain't anything wrong with just the uniform, insignia and rank are pretty bad to use though.

It's illegal to wear a defense forces uniform or Garda uniform over here if your not in the service, not just because of impersonation of army/police but because criminals and terrorists have used the uniforms to commit crimes before. Course then there's Halloween when you get the kids who stole their dads/brothers/sisters uniform and dance around in it, no harm done really in that case. Even serving members of the defense forces don't like wearing the uniform out in public outside of official events, it's just a culture of low key respectful distance, it can frighten people. It's very different from the US.

Wearing the uniform makes you a hero automatically so its easy to see why people do it. Explains why most squaddies are white trash anyway.

[QUOTE=Native Hunter;44358893]I can honestly see where the rangers are coming from, People have fought and died in those uniforms.[/QUOTE] So have cops and firemen (died not fought), maybe we should get mad at male strippers

[QUOTE=Lachz0r;44358677]those meatheads need to grow up. who gives a shit if he's wearing an army uniform? not like he was wearing medals or whatever (and even that is a stupid thing to get angry about unless they're using it for nefarious reasons) [editline]26th March 2014[/editline] then sending threats to the cops lol. really doing the uniform proud fellas.[/QUOTE] He was wearing badges that takes like 30+ years to get. Also you gotta understand that the guy going at him spent years and years yelling at real soldiers not following dress code, shits second nature to him and it started out with him seeing a soldier that was violating dress code, before he even saw the badges etc. A good rule of thumb is that if they're wearing cammies in a civilian environment they're most likely fakers.

[QUOTE=Crimor;44359344]A good rule of thumb is that if they're wearing cammies in a civilian environment they're most likely fakers.[/QUOTE] I thought the general rule of thumb was that it's extremely not-ok (as per the UCMJ) to wear a uniform in inactive/after service unless it's either an emergency, a really quick-pit stop on the way to a place where it would be needed, or an event in which it might be appropriate. (Veteran's Day?) Don't quote me on any of that, I just remember skimming over that part and remembering that basically you have no reason to wear a full uniform, 'sepcially combat, in civilian environments; and that it's against the code of conduct.

So long as he's not wearing unit patches or qualification badges, nobody should give a fuck. If he's not doing that, he's not passing himself off as a service member.

Some people don't understand, it's more than just a uniform.

[QUOTE=JoonazL;44359270]Ain't anything wrong with just the uniform, insignia and rank are pretty bad to use though.[/QUOTE] Yeah. I wear the old BDUs for airsoft, and the furthest I ever go with that is a nametape. That's it. No rank, no unit patches, nothing. I'd be reluctant to use ACUs or Multicam though. That stuff is current issue, BDUs aren't.

I can sympathize. I often catch shit for wearing my Rangers uniform in public. People need to grow up, and realize that it's homage, and we're not hurting anybody. [img]http://cdn-www.i-am-bored.com/media/overweightpowerranger.jpg[/img] Fuck the haters, I NEED THIS.

I have just a Captain's Hat. I don't think I could get in trouble for that, could I? I mean a Captain in the sense of a NATO Captain's hat. It's fairly dated however.

[QUOTE=Ericson666;44359077]I think it has more to do with Stolen Valor or whatever it's called, where people try to get credit for being in the military from people, often in extremely subtle ways [img]http://nokoolaidzone.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/bad-marine.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] The original Stolen Valor Act (of 2005) was [url=http://www.military.com/daily-news/2012/06/28/supreme-court-strikes-down-stolen-valor-act.html] struck down down in 2012[/url], and a new set of rules was created in the Stolen Valor Act (of 2013) [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_2005[/url] [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_2013[/url] (From my understanding. Please correct me if I'm wrong as they both sound really similar, but this is what I understood it as) The 2005 version meant that if you said you lied, stating you were/are a military member or a recipient of any medals, or wore any fake medals, you could be tried in court for a federal misdemeanor, even if you weren't lying to try and gain benefits out of it. The 2013 version means that you can only be tried if you're wearing fake medals to try and gain any material benefits out of it. The 2005 version was shot down because it was considered unconstitutional, that it went against freedom of speech. This was because while lying is bad, some people that lied weren't trying to gain anything about it. Since the act also considered them criminals, but lying isn't against the law, it created a conflict, resulting in the law being struck down. A quote from the page: [quote]"The First Amendment protects speech we don't like," he said. "We don't need the First Amendment for speech people like. The government cannot criminalize a statement simply because it is false, no matter how important the statement is."[/quote] The 2013 version is limited to selected medals and people trying to gain material benefits out of it. I'm not sure how far the "material benefits" can effectively extend in a court though. (such as those 15% off for military personal at some little corner stores etc, escalating up to receiving war vet donations). At the same time though, in the 2005 version cases, the prosecutor points out: [quote]Beall points out Strandlof wasn't charged with stealing money meant for the veterans group, adding that laws are already in place for those crimes. "That's plain-old, regular-vanilla everyday fraud, and we do prosecute that every day," he said.[/quote] I honestly don't know how much of a difference there is between the two, but from my crappy understanding, it's now only illegal if you're trying to get some kind of material gain out of it (even though that was argued against in the past). Based on the video/news reports, since he wasn't trying to gain anything out of this, he's within his legal rights. I think it's an extremely scumbag thing to do though. You don't lie and say you're in the military when you're not actually in it. I think the proper thing to do would be to wear the uniform (with/without tags, medals, etc,) and if/when asked you just say you're wearing it in support. You don't lie then say you're part of a unit. Just because you WANT to be in the military doesn't mean it's okay to say you are. I view it on a similar (I will point out though, not equal) level to impersonating a cop or fire-fighter. In a situation of emergency, if you were to see someone that says they're a part of the military or has badges or medals to supposedly back it up, you would trust them. According to [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_impersonation]THIS[/url], it's mainly referring to deception with the intent to commit crimes, but I'm not sure how things like this would apply, or if it even would, to emergency situations. If someone understands law lingo better, just point out if anything is wrong, etc.

[QUOTE=Lachz0r;44358677]those meatheads need to grow up. who gives a shit if he's wearing an army uniform? not like he was wearing medals or whatever (and even that is a stupid thing to get angry about unless they're using it for nefarious reasons)[/QUOTE] Well you see he isn't just wearing the Army uniform. That would be fine (but silly) at best, stupid at worse. He was wearing Ranger tabs (which you EARN through training, you don't just get Ranger tabs like you do unit patches) alongside completely unrelated unit patches - showing that he has neither the knowledge nor respect for either the conditions for which the tab is earned, nor the background of the units he has patches for. The Veteran even asks him to only remove the Ranger tab and he refuses. That's disrespectful.

The guy's intentions were good but the idea that someone wearing a uniform means he must be in the military is very strong here. Like the police in the article said, he's free to wear it and I think the reaction to him was rather harsh, but there are other ways to show support and by doing it that way he's almost guaranteed to get himself into awkward situations because a [B]lot[/B] of people are going to think he's actually in the military.