Amidst discussions of SOF imposters, Jim West’s nonchalant yet formidable response to confronting fakes—simply grabbing them by the throat—underscores the no-nonsense attitude of these real-deal Green Berets.
The SOF community is a modern day band of brothers. Original illustration by SOFREP.
Welcome to Inside the Team Room with Green Berets Jack Murphy, Jim West, and Terry Schappert. Our host, moderator, and facilitator is Andrew Wilkow.
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Today, the guys discuss SOF fakers and whether or not they think the internet makes it easier or not to fake a special operations background.
This immediately makes me think of an Italian slang term I picked up from the Sopranos (see below), “fugazi.” In the show and in the general vernacular, it means someone who pretends to be something they are not. A pretender. Today, my friends, I learned something new. “FUGAZI” is also a military acronym. That’s right, it stands for “F**ked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In (a body bag).
Back to our snake eaters, Jack talks about how he does not post any of his documents on the internet because they are so easy to copy and modify. Someone then could pass it off as his own. Andrew makes a good counter-argument that the internet could make it easier to spot fakes because real operators can talk to each other easily and ask if someone is legit or not.
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Toward the end of the session, Andrew asks the guys, “Before we end this, have you ever confronted anyone for being a fake?” Jim smiles and says, “Yeah, a couple of times.” Andrew went on to ask Jim if he ever got in their face about it, and I love Jim’s reply. He said, “No, I’d just grab them by the throat.”
