Misfits, Dad's Army Types et al...
Discussion
OK, here's a real Walt story. I've told it before here but it is worth telling again. It's why these Walt outing groups make me feel uncomfortable because this Walt that I'm going to tell you about had mental health issues I think. Not a conman, just a guy with some problems.
It's a fairly long post, so to summarise.
School fiend, pretended to be in the Paras and have a girlfriend, kid, affairs etc, but actually lived in the dole with parents. Very bright guy. Pre internet days. Developed non-swearing Tourette's and other issues.
A school friend lets call him Neil. Middle class background, a very bright lad. But just an ordinary kid at school. A disaster with girls, but no more than anyone else.
We parted ways to go to university but all kept in touch,
At uni, he became a member of the TA, indeed he revealed that he'd been in the TA in sixth form.
Joined the Royal Green Jackets after uni, then did P company and became a Para officer.
He did tours of Northern Ireland and deployed on various exercises. We'd see him three or four times a year, but also for the odd day in between. He always had fun stories. Quite often tales where he came off worse.
He had a girlfriend - a nurse but was seeing a woman who was the victim of domestic abuse. She had a kid, which was his. He dealt with the abusing husband. Not with h violence but with legal threats .
Note this is all pretty measured stuff. No heroics. All believable.
It was pre Internet and all very clever. One example. I got a call from him one afternoon f from a phone box. He was deployed in NI at the time. The brief call - not more than 30 seconds was something like, "somethings just happened, I'm OK, can't talk now, it's all kicking off." Minutes later the BBC news came on to say there'd been some sort of incident in NI involving soldiers.
Quick and clever work on his part.
He was given "leave" after the "incident" and even took time to tell me he was a bit mentally f
ked up by what had happened. PTSD if you like.
We began to get suspicious. He was incredibly convincing and I have loads of other stories I could tell you.
So, pre-Internet one of our friends also became suspicious. We never shared our suspicions, but he decided to do some digging. Neil had told us where his girlfriend lived. So our friend decided to call in her - he'd made up some excuse. No one at the house had heard of her and her kid. She was supposed to have moved back with her folks.
He did some more digging. Neil's kid supposedly went to a nearby first school. A friend of a friend had a child there and he soon established Neil's child was made up.
My friend then decided to hire a private detective, just to get some background on Neil. The info came back that he was signing in the dole, lived at home and had been in the dole since leaving university.
At the same time, my Dad had become suspicious. He called the Paras, asked for him, and the friendly adjutant or who ever said something like "Not another Walt. We get several calls like yours a month Sir".
My Dad was ex-army. National service. Neil, with a huge amount of front even challenged my old man about his modest service life.
Eventually we approached Neil's brother to tell him what we knew. We didn't know him well but he was very forthcoming, saying his brother was a nutter who exercised and worked-out all day, who wore army fatigues and who would spend days locked in a room engaged in God knows what. He said his folks were in denial, just ignoring him saying it was a "phase."
At about this point, Neil was developing a kind of squeaking Tourette's. Very low level stuff, blinking, squeaking. He'd make out he had something in his eye or whatever when it was mentioned.
I didn't want to confront him, preferring to just let the friendship slide but our mutual friend was enraged, wanted to involve the police and very bravely - best in mind Neil,was a big lad who worked out - he confronted him.
Neil's response was to stick to his guns. He wrote letters to me, and our mutual friend outlining the "true" story.
He was on the dole because he was no longer a soldier. He's injured his leg in training (it may have been a para jump I can't recall) he had been pensioned out of service but because we, yes WE hero worshiped him and looked to him as our big Para pal, he decided to pretend he was still in the Paras. It was our fault not his.
Still very arrogant he said that unless we were prepared to accept this story then he could see no way of continuing an association with us.
Upon further consultation with the brother, it emerged their mother had concocted the injury story to help him save face.
He descended into quite a sad withdrawn state. I kept in Christmas card touch. I'd take him for a pint now and then - once a year - to pubs where no one knew me. He had zero conversation about his life. Only talked about what was on the news, stuff like that. To be fair he turned up at my Dad's funeral which bearing mind the shambles he was at that time and that a lot of people who knew him iwas actually quite brave if him.
We've drifted out of touch in the last decade or so. I understand he's got a job now and is doing OK.
It's all very well outing Walts, but Neil was just a very fked up guy who felt inadequate, told a lie, which snowballed, and combined with some mental problems.
Thanks for reading if you got this far.
It's a fairly long post, so to summarise.
School fiend, pretended to be in the Paras and have a girlfriend, kid, affairs etc, but actually lived in the dole with parents. Very bright guy. Pre internet days. Developed non-swearing Tourette's and other issues.
A school friend lets call him Neil. Middle class background, a very bright lad. But just an ordinary kid at school. A disaster with girls, but no more than anyone else.
We parted ways to go to university but all kept in touch,
At uni, he became a member of the TA, indeed he revealed that he'd been in the TA in sixth form.
Joined the Royal Green Jackets after uni, then did P company and became a Para officer.
He did tours of Northern Ireland and deployed on various exercises. We'd see him three or four times a year, but also for the odd day in between. He always had fun stories. Quite often tales where he came off worse.
He had a girlfriend - a nurse but was seeing a woman who was the victim of domestic abuse. She had a kid, which was his. He dealt with the abusing husband. Not with h violence but with legal threats .
Note this is all pretty measured stuff. No heroics. All believable.
It was pre Internet and all very clever. One example. I got a call from him one afternoon f from a phone box. He was deployed in NI at the time. The brief call - not more than 30 seconds was something like, "somethings just happened, I'm OK, can't talk now, it's all kicking off." Minutes later the BBC news came on to say there'd been some sort of incident in NI involving soldiers.
Quick and clever work on his part.
He was given "leave" after the "incident" and even took time to tell me he was a bit mentally f
ked up by what had happened. PTSD if you like.We began to get suspicious. He was incredibly convincing and I have loads of other stories I could tell you.
So, pre-Internet one of our friends also became suspicious. We never shared our suspicions, but he decided to do some digging. Neil had told us where his girlfriend lived. So our friend decided to call in her - he'd made up some excuse. No one at the house had heard of her and her kid. She was supposed to have moved back with her folks.
He did some more digging. Neil's kid supposedly went to a nearby first school. A friend of a friend had a child there and he soon established Neil's child was made up.
My friend then decided to hire a private detective, just to get some background on Neil. The info came back that he was signing in the dole, lived at home and had been in the dole since leaving university.
At the same time, my Dad had become suspicious. He called the Paras, asked for him, and the friendly adjutant or who ever said something like "Not another Walt. We get several calls like yours a month Sir".
My Dad was ex-army. National service. Neil, with a huge amount of front even challenged my old man about his modest service life.
Eventually we approached Neil's brother to tell him what we knew. We didn't know him well but he was very forthcoming, saying his brother was a nutter who exercised and worked-out all day, who wore army fatigues and who would spend days locked in a room engaged in God knows what. He said his folks were in denial, just ignoring him saying it was a "phase."
At about this point, Neil was developing a kind of squeaking Tourette's. Very low level stuff, blinking, squeaking. He'd make out he had something in his eye or whatever when it was mentioned.
I didn't want to confront him, preferring to just let the friendship slide but our mutual friend was enraged, wanted to involve the police and very bravely - best in mind Neil,was a big lad who worked out - he confronted him.
Neil's response was to stick to his guns. He wrote letters to me, and our mutual friend outlining the "true" story.
He was on the dole because he was no longer a soldier. He's injured his leg in training (it may have been a para jump I can't recall) he had been pensioned out of service but because we, yes WE hero worshiped him and looked to him as our big Para pal, he decided to pretend he was still in the Paras. It was our fault not his.
Still very arrogant he said that unless we were prepared to accept this story then he could see no way of continuing an association with us.
Upon further consultation with the brother, it emerged their mother had concocted the injury story to help him save face.
He descended into quite a sad withdrawn state. I kept in Christmas card touch. I'd take him for a pint now and then - once a year - to pubs where no one knew me. He had zero conversation about his life. Only talked about what was on the news, stuff like that. To be fair he turned up at my Dad's funeral which bearing mind the shambles he was at that time and that a lot of people who knew him iwas actually quite brave if him.
We've drifted out of touch in the last decade or so. I understand he's got a job now and is doing OK.
It's all very well outing Walts, but Neil was just a very f
ked up guy who felt inadequate, told a lie, which snowballed, and combined with some mental problems.Thanks for reading if you got this far.
Edited by wildcat45 on Monday 23 May 11:17
Vaud said:
I think all sides of this friendship had significant issues.
Yeah you are probably right. He was enraged that he had been lied to. Had there been Walt sites then. he'd no doubt have outed him there. To be fair to him he is a very cautious guy, even today. Quite successful but won't make a move until he knows everything. Hiring a PI wouldn't be something I would do. We've discussed this over the years. His view was that he needed to be sure of every fact before he confronted him.I've only given a flavour of Neil's behaviour. I could fill a book with his stories and also the obviously meticulous research that went into the lie.
This was the early 1990s. Today, a few hours on ine could get you enough info on all sorts of back stories. The units you saved with, names, photos, Board of Inquiry reports into incidents. Even Google street view so you know the colour of the boathouse door so to speak. You know, answers to all those awkward questions. "What pub did you drink in? What's the name of the take-away over the road? All fairly easy now. Back then, his stories had that level of detail in them.
wildcat45 said:
It's all very well outing Walts, but Neil was just a very fked up guy who felt inadequate, told a lie, which snowballed, and combined with some mental problems
Thing is, a lot of these "assistance groups" be they with or without an eBay Discovery and a greasy hi-viz always stop just short of actually saying "We're the police/I'm a fireman/Step aside, paramedic!" or whatever so they clearly know enough to know not to genuinely impersonate someone or something, even though they're still deluded enough to think they have certain "powers"ked up guy who felt inadequate, told a lie, which snowballed, and combined with some mental problemsThose who genuinely impersonate authority figures are, as you say, a different breed of cat.
I too am slightly uncomfortable with the various Walt Hunting Clubs on Facebook and the like as they appear to be made up of very embittered and very angry service personnel who have placed themselves on a mission with all good intent but go about publicising their aims in such a way as to look every bit what the British military isn't.....unprofessional.
It makes you begin to wonder who's spouting the most harmful crap..... the Walt, or the Walt Hunter?
Crossflow Kid said:
Thing is, a lot of these "assistance groups" be they with or without an eBay Discovery and a greasy hi-viz always stop just short of actually saying "We're the police/I'm a fireman/Step aside, paramedic!" or whatever so they clearly know enough to know not to genuinely impersonate someone or something, even though they're still deluded enough to think they have certain "powers"
Those who genuinely impersonate authority figures are, as you say, a different breed of cat.
I too am slightly uncomfortable with the various Walt Hunting Clubs on Facebook and the like as they appear to be made up of very embittered and very angry service personnel who have placed themselves on a mission with all good intent but go about publicising their aims in such a way as to look every bit what the British military isn't.....unprofessional.
It makes you begin to wonder who's spouting the most harmful crap..... the Walt, or the Walt Hunter?
Indeed. Those who genuinely impersonate authority figures are, as you say, a different breed of cat.
I too am slightly uncomfortable with the various Walt Hunting Clubs on Facebook and the like as they appear to be made up of very embittered and very angry service personnel who have placed themselves on a mission with all good intent but go about publicising their aims in such a way as to look every bit what the British military isn't.....unprofessional.
It makes you begin to wonder who's spouting the most harmful crap..... the Walt, or the Walt Hunter?
4x4Tyke said:
baldy1926 said:
I've not figured out yet if he is pretend rescue or pretend police yet.
Different services have battenburg in different colour combinations.The SAS have Hobnobs though.
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 23 May 11:46
Crossflow Kid said:
It makes you begin to wonder who's spouting the most harmful crap..... the Walt, or the Walt Hunter?
I think we are remarkably tolerant of "stolen valour" as it is known in the US. Over there they see it as comparable to impersonating police, etc and it's a crime:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_...
Whilst I think the Walt Hunters have a fairly unprofessional tone... I think it's good that they do it. I would prefer to see a law similar to the US that focuses on some of the more extreme Walts who claim to have medals...
Vaud said:
I think we are remarkably tolerant of "stolen valour" as it is known in the US. Over there they see it as comparable to impersonating police, etc and it's a crime:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_...
Whilst I think the Walt Hunters have a fairly unprofessional tone... I think it's good that they do it. I would prefer to see a law similar to the US that focuses on some of the more extreme Walts who claim to have medals...
The wearing of any military award, medal, decoration, emblem or insignia without the correct authority is a criminal offence under the Army Act 2006 (aspects of which aren't applicable solely to the military)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_...
Whilst I think the Walt Hunters have a fairly unprofessional tone... I think it's good that they do it. I would prefer to see a law similar to the US that focuses on some of the more extreme Walts who claim to have medals...
"The correct authority" is usually MoD.
Edited by anonymous-user on Monday 23 May 11:55
Crossflow Kid said:
4x4Tyke said:
baldy1926 said:
I've not figured out yet if he is pretend rescue or pretend police yet.
Different services have battenburg in different colour combinations.The SAS have Hobnobs though.
Edited by Crossflow Kid on Monday 23 May 11:46
Crossflow Kid said:
When you say "you all" does that mean "us"?
If so, it includes you sunshine
I think he meant me and my friends. It's a pretty accurate assessment. It was a long-running and very weird situation. Now and then me and my friend mention it and agree the whole thing was just crazy - even disturbing.If so, it includes you sunshine
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff