History Main / PhonyVeteran

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', while stuck in the 1950's, Marty uses the cover identity of a returning Coast Guard to explain away his 80's-era clothing.

** In one episode Elliot's father, the Chief of Medicine of a high-priced private hospital, visits Scared Herat and claims it's the worst he's seen since [[UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar Korea]]. Dr. Kelso, a Korean War veteran who actually served in combat, sarcastically replies "Oh, where in Connecticut was your National Guard unit posted?"

* ''Literature/TheSaint'': The ConMan title character of "The Ingenious Colonel":

Perhaps because this is attention-seeking behavior in the first place, it's very common for a RealLife phony vet to claim to be a high-ranking and highly-decorated member of an elite special-forces unit, because ElitesAreMoreGlamorous. Ironically, this often makes them easier for actual veterans or well-informed civilians to spot. The more elite and senior a particular type of service member is, the fewer of them there tend to be, and them more likely a phony will get the uniform or knowledge about their supposed specialty wrong. Also, because this is somewhat immature behavior to begin with, they tend to be extremely young for their purported rank and time in service.

In other words, TruthInTelevision. See also MilesGloriosus and FakeUltimateHero.

* ''ComicBook/{{The Boys|2019}}'': One LegacyCharacter (an {{expy}} of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica) claims to have served in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (the original one did, but was quickly killed as a result of his incompetence and starting the pattern of what happens when Vought Incorporated gets involved with warfare). When Billy (a veteran of the Falklands war) kills him, he tells him he's an insult to the men who truly served.

* In ''Series/TheBoys'', [[spoiler:like the [[ComicBook/TheBoys original comic]], FakeUltimateHero and ComicBook/CaptainAmerica {{expy}} Soldier Boy never actually served in WWII, instead being used as a propaganda piece and SuperCop by the government. However, he's an AdaptationalBadass and {{narcissist}} who ends up BelievingTheirOwnLies to the point that he ''genuinely believes'' that he was a veteran discarded by his country, and decks Hughie for questioning it.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheBoys'': One LegacyCharacter (an {{expy}} of ComicBook/CaptainAmerica) claims to have served in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (the original one did, but was quickly killed as a result of his incompetence and starting the pattern of what happens when Vought Incorporated gets involved with warfare). When Billy (a veteran of the Falklands war) kills him, he tells him he's an insult to the men who truly served.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Planes}}'': Dusty's mentor [[GrumpyOldMan Skipper]] is an old reclusive war veteran who keeps telling heroic stories about his time serving in the Jolly Wrenches. When looking at the hall of fame during his stay on the U.S.S. Flysenhower, Dusty is shocked to find out that [[spoiler: Skipper only flew one mission, one that failed spectacularly as his entire squadron was shot down due to him miscalculating the danger. Still, the incident has traumatized Skipper so badly, that he couldn't bring himself to fly anymore, let alone tell anyone the truth. Dusty feels betrayed by this.]]

-->''Lieutenant-Colonel Sir George Uppington, it must be admitted, was not a genuine knight; neither, as a matter of fact, was he a genuine colonel...But his military experience was certainly limited to a brief period during the latter days of [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne the war]] when {{conscription}} had gathered him up and set him to the uncongenial task of PeelingPotatos at Aldershot.''

* While he actually did serve in UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne, [[TheBarnum Grimes]] in Creator/EvelynWaugh's novel ''Decline and Fall'' serves as an example. He is missing a leg, and while he received the injury after the war from being hit by a car, his pupils (he's a schoolmaster) assume that this was a war injury, a notion of which he does nothing to disabuse them.

* ''Series/TheCode'' has an episode focusing on a Marine who exposes civilians posing as military veterans in public on video. It becomes complicated when one such phony Marine is beaten by a real one and dies of his injuries.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'', Coach Oleander's mindscape is themed entirely around war due to having served himself, which is shown in a Memory Vault containing a recollection of the battles he took part in. [[spoiler: Upon revisiting the level, you can find a Memory Vault that reveals that Coach Oleander made ''everything up''. According to the memory, he was never involved in a war and was actually rejected by quite literally every branch of the military, including the ''catering corps''. Granted, as an official Psychonaut, he ''is'' a government agent - not quite military, but close enough.]]

** In one episode Elliot's father, the Chief of Medicine of a high-priced private hospital, visits Scared Herat and claims it's the work he's seen since [[UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar Korea]]. Dr. Kelso, a Korean War veteran who actually served in combat, replies "Where in Connecticut was your National Guard unit posted?"

* As seen in one of the chapters of ''Manga/BlackLagoon'', Dutch may be one of these, as a military character points to flaws in Dutch's accounts of serving in Vietnam and the fact that Dutch appears ignorant of G.I. lingo. [[spoiler:Later chapters subvert this by suggesting he ''has'' experience, but is possibly just lying about when and for whom he was serving.]]

* [[spoiler: Inverted]] in the ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'' 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 HeroicSacrifice, when the Doctor reads the obituary of Field-Marshal Henry Whittington-Smythe and says "I ''knew'' he wasn't really a Major!"]]

* ''Film/SemiPro'': Lou, one of Jackie's buddies/game commentators, claims that he was in Vietnam during a poker game. The others at the table all groan as he "recalls" his experience fending off Charlie in "the shit", earning the rebuke "Is 'the shit' in Ann Arbor? Cause that's where ''you'' were during the war."

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'': According to a soldier from the Battle of Wounded Knee, Zachary Comstock never fought in the war and the accomplishments he takes credit for aren't his. [[spoiler: He actually ''did'' fight in the war when he was still known as Booker [=DeWitt=]. However, he ''is'' lying about the extent of his wartime accomplishments. And they're both deluded about the actual "accomplishment" of slaughtering two towns of underequipped civilians fighting in desperate self-defense.]]

** It should be noted that [[AluminumChristmasTrees the US Coast Guard really was active in combat operations in Vietnam]], with multiple Cutters patrolling the "Gun Line" offshore, providing fire support to ground troops, and shooting up North Vietnamese gunboats. Tayback clearly wasn’t among them, though.

* An episode of ''Series/BetterCallSaul'' involves one of these, where Jimmy carts up an old man in uniform to an Air Force base to hang out in front of a B-29. The guy in question is just some weirdo who owes Jimmy a favor [[DirtyOldMan after Jimmy defended him for public masturbation.]] Ironically, it's implied that by some coincidence, he may have had ''some'' history with the war, since he corrects Jimmy about whether the B-29 was used against the Nazis.

* ''WesternAnimation/FuggetAboutIt'': When Cheech realizes that his WitnessProtection alias is 100 years old, he decides to pretend to be a World War II veteran in order to get free beer. Real World War II veterans eventually realize the truth and beat him up.

** In one episode, Homer claims to be a Vietnam vet in order to get free admittance to the State Fair.

* ''{{Film/Ronin}}'': When Sam suspects one of his colleagues isn't telling the truth about his background, he tests him with questions like "What's the color of the boathouse at Hereford?" Sam doesn't know either, but he knows that a real SAS veteran wouldn't have been so flustered by the question that Sam could get the drop on him.