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{{trope}}
[[File:
The
It's worth noting, that in the United States at least, laws have started to be passed making this behavior illegal.
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Needless to say, [[Truth in Television]].
See also [[Miles Gloriosus]].
'''[[No Real Life Examples, Please]]'''
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* The police chief in ''[[Kirby:
* According to a recent chapter of ''[[Black Lagoon]]'', Dutch may be one of these, as a military character points to flaws in Dutch's accounts of serving in Vietnam.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In the [[
* In ''[[Vigilante]]'', Dave Winston (a.k.a. the Vigilante) is horrified when he runs across a man nicknamed 'Sarge' who fantasises about the Vietnam War (the same war Dave served in) and falsely claims to have served.
== [[Film]] -- Animated ==
* Fowler from ''[[
{{quote|
'''Ginger''': You mean you never actually *flew* the plane?
'''Fowler''': Good heavens, no! I'm a chicken! The Royal Air Force doesn't let chickens behind the controls of a complex aircraft. }}
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* At one point in the film ''[[Trading Places]]'', Eddie Murphy's character pretends to be a disabled homeless Vietnam veteran.
* The bum harassing D-FENS in ''[[Falling Down]]'' uses this as one of his excuses to get money from him, claiming to be a Vietnam veteran despite only being around 30 at most.
{{quote|
* ''[[The Reluctant Astronaut]]'' has the hometown hero at one point admitting to Don Knotts' character that he was never a soldier like he claimed: he was a librarian, and even his "war wound" was just the result of an on-the-job injury. Since Don Knotts' character has inadvertently been trumped up as an astronaut even though NASA simply hired him on as a janitor, this amounts to [[Oblivious Guilt Slinging]].
* In ''[[Due Date]]'' Peter thinks that a guy they're talking to is one of these. When he comes out from behind his desk, he's in a wheelchair. And proceeds to beat Peter up. Ouch.
* Movie critic Stephen Hunter has speculated that Travis Bickle lied about being a Viet Nam veteran in ''[[Taxi Driver]]''. Which [[Unreliable Narrator|wouldn't be out of character]] for Bickle.
* 'General' Brad Whitaker in ''[[
* Early in ''[[Payback]]'', [[Villain Protagonist]] Porter passes by a beggar who claims to be a crippled Vietnam veteran. When Porter goes to take some of the "crippled" beggar's money, the guy immediately leaps to his feet and tries to stop Porter. Naturally, it's strongly hinted that he's lying about being a vet too.
== [[Literature]] ==
* Thenardier of ''[[Les Misérables]]'' spent the Napoleonic Wars robbing corpses but boasts about his war heroism, had an inn with a patriotic title, and in [[Les Misérables (
* In the [[Posleen War Series]] book ''Hell's Faire'', by [[John Ringo]], when visiting No Name Key in Florida, [[Badass|Mike O'Neal Jr's]] claim of being in the military is initially questioned by the residents, thanks to them having been fooled, previously, by someone claiming to be a veteran to leech off of them.
* While he actually did serve in [[World War
* {{spoiler|Inverted}} in the ''[[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]]'' novel ''The Taking Of Chelsea 426'', with the character of the Major, an apparently senile old duffer forever droning on about his military career, with copious hints that he's really one of these. While he does prove to have a good deal of bravery and military knowledge, the punchline comes {{spoiler|after his [[Heroic Sacrifice]], when the Doctor reads the obituary of Field-Marshal Henry Whittington-Smythe and says "I ''knew'' he wasn't really a Major!"}}
* In Dave Barry's ''[[Big Trouble]]'', Snake tries to take advantage of his new ankle injury by posing as a Vietnam vet, along with his bud Eddie. Nobody gives them anything, because they're obviously too young to have served in the Vietnam War.
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* In ''[[
* Inverted by Pops, in ''[[Time Gentlemen Please]]'', who "didn't fight in World War II... admittedly".
* The beginning of the very first episode of ''[[Cheers]]'' has a kid trying to using a fake military ID to buy beer. A kid who's ''12 at most'':
{{quote|
'''Kid''': Oh yeah.
'''Sam''': What was it like?
'''Kid''': Gross.
'''Sam''': Yeah, that's what they say. "War is gross". ''[gives back the ID]'' I'm sorry soldier.
'''Kid''': ''[beat]'' This is the thanks we get. }}
* An episode of ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' (the episode after House has gone back to working at Princeton Plainsboro, after recovering from {{spoiler|going insane and then realizing that only diagnostics gives him the constant thrill he needs to keep the pain down, now that Vicodin is no longer an option}}) features a very cranky man with one arm, living in the apartment below Wilson's. Allegedly he served in Vietnam, which is where he lost the arm. Subverted in that he actually did serve - just not in Vietnam. And not in the U.S. Army; he's actually {{spoiler|a Canadian citizen}} who lost the arm during {{spoiler|a peace-keeping mission, while trying to save a kid from a landmine in a country ''near'' Vietnam.}} He's irritable for much the same reasons House is: he's in constant pain, due to phantom limb pain; House {{spoiler|fixes this}} and the guy ''breaks down crying with relief'' because {{spoiler|for the first time in over thirty years, he isn't in agony.}} It's never made clear whether he stopped claiming he was in Nam - it's implied, when he's telling House what really happened to his arm, that he just finds it easier to let people think it was Nam rather than deal with the questions that the truth would spur.
* Richie in ''[[Bottom]]'' frequently tries to pass himself off as a war veteran, but is inevitably undone by his own stupidity and Eddie.
** In "Apocalypse", he claims to have "Hurt my leg in the Falklands Conflict".
{{quote|
'''Eddie''': Oh yeah, he tripped over the coffee table trying to switch channels. }}
** In "Parade", his attempt to cop off with a barmaid by using his Falklands story is ruined by Eddie ("This is all a load of bollocks") and an [[I Am One of Those, Too]] encounter with a real disabled Falklands veteran ("I don't believe a word of this. In fact I don't believe it so much I'm gonna smash your face in!")
** In the second Bottom Live stage show, he claims in a letter to the Queen to be an "Old soldier who during the war fought a desperate rearguard action in Burma."
{{quote|
'''Richie''': I was doing my bit Eddie. I was doing my bit. }}
* Captain Peacock of ''[[Are You Being Served
* In ''[[Boardwalk Empire]]'', Al Capone claims to be a veteran of World War I, and says he served in the Lost Battalion. A real veteran eventually figures him out and calls him on it. Capone's claims are [[Truth in Television]].
* In ''[[
* Basil Fawlty of ''[[Fawlty Towers]]'', of all people, was apparently in Korea: when he threatens a guest with "I've killed men!" his wife adds "he was in the Catering Corps. He poisoned them."
* An episode of ''[[
* Foggy from ''[[Last of the Summer Wine]]'', although whether his supposed war stories were just exaggerated or pure invention varied over the course of the show.
== [[Music]] ==
* From Tim Wilson's song ''Brother in Law'':
{{quote|
But he wasn't there, he was fifteen in '74 }}
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* Coach Oleander in ''[[
* The heavy weapons dealer, Phil Cassidy, from the ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' series wears military-style clothes, and claims to have lost his left arm when he was stationed in Nicaragua. ''GTA Vice City'' reveals that he never was in the army, who turned him down numerous times because of his bad temper and tendency towards alcoholism, and that he lost his arm due to an accident with a homemade bomb.
* [[Subverted]] by the Soldier in ''[[
** If you check the dates, however, it looks more like he spent much of that time ''murdering German civilians'' after the war was over.
* Played with in ''[[Deadly Premonition]]'' with General Lysander. York calls him out on the fact that he's wearing a ''sergeant's'' uniform. {{spoiler|It turns out he really ''was'' promoted to General in Vietnam, but kept his old uniform out of guilt.}}
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* ''[[The Simpsons (
** In one episode, Homer claims to be a Vietnam vet in order to get free admittance to the State Fair.
** Subverted by Grampa- when he tells Bart about his experiences in [[World War
** Grampa tells a lot of stories about
* Andy Anderson of ''[[Life With Louie]]'' ''defines'' this
* Cotton Hill of ''[[King of the Hill]]'' is eventually called on the fact that his stories place him in the European and Pacific theaters at the same time. It turns out that the European part was fake, but the Pacific part may well be true - it's kind of hard to argue with a man who doesn't have ''shins'' anymore.
* Gru from ''[[Despicable Me]]'' had his minions write up false personal achievements for him. One of them was declaring that he had being awarded the Medal of Honor in 1991.
* Phil from ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' told a story wherein he gave [[Adolf Hitler]] himself a wedgie. He is called out for this by Arnold, and proceeds to tell the story of how he incapacitated a troop of German soldiers by giving them spoiled Spam.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]
[[Category:Truth and Lies]]
[[Category:
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