Army 2nd Lt relieved for wearing SEAL patch

[Stonewall]

Wearing a SEAL badge when you're in the Army is just dumb. Did he seriously think nobody would call him out on that?

I have seen two other Soldiers wearing the SEAL trident in my life, one earned it, the other did not and was booted after 20 years of service.

[Hawk200]

Wearing a SEAL badge when you're in the Army is just dumb. Did he seriously think nobody would call him out on that?

Why? If you've earned it, and it's allowed for wear, what's the problem?

Previous skill sets identified in such a manner can be useful to the leadership. "Hey, so-and-so has that badge, we can use them for such-and-such training, they've done it before."

...the other did not and was booted after 20 years of service.

That is pretty stupid. It's amazing how many people revise their own lives because they aren't happy with who they are now.

[DakRadz]

Wearing a SEAL badge when you're in the Army is just dumb. Did he seriously think nobody would call him out on that?

Why? If you've earned it, and it's allowed for wear, what's the problem?

Previous skill sets identified in such a manner can be useful to the leadership. "Hey, so-and-so has that badge, we can use them for such-and-such training, they've done it before."

Sir,
I agree with what you said, but-
I took raivo's comment as referring to this specific incident- hence the "Did he seriously think nobody would call him out on that?" comment, because the soldier was wearing it without having earned it.

Going along with what raivo said, he was wearing USN insignia on USA uniform, which I would think would attract more attention simply because it's a different service's elite team.
As always, YMMV.

[PHall]

Wearing a SEAL badge when you're in the Army is just dumb. Did he seriously think nobody would call him out on that?

Why? If you've earned it, and it's allowed for wear, what's the problem?

Previous skill sets identified in such a manner can be useful to the leadership. "Hey, so-and-so has that badge, we can use them for such-and-such training, they've done it before."

Sir,
I agree with what you said, but-
I took raivo's comment as referring to this specific incident- hence the "Did he seriously think nobody would call him out on that?" comment, because the soldier was wearing it without having earned it.

Going along with what raivo said, he was wearing USN insignia on USA uniform, which I would think would attract more attention simply because it's a different service's elite team.
As always, YMMV.

People serving in more then one branch of the military is not that rare in the Guard/Reserve. See it all of the time.

[Hawk200]

Going along with what raivo said, he was wearing USN insignia on USA uniform, which I would think would attract more attention simply because it's a different service's elite team.

The level of attention is not what a lot of people might think. So many people get the impression that the attention is to the effect of "Oh my God, that's a Navy badge. No way in Hades you could have gotten that!"

Most of the time, some fancy badge from another service(or even the Army) gets a "You did {Insert Cool Former Job Here}? Get any cool missions?"

I've known a few people in the Guard that have done some fancy stuff. Some folks have badges that "add up" to something fancy, but you don't know what until you've talked to them for a while. Sometimes it can take months to figure it out because they're not boastful about it.

Of course there are posers everywhere,  I've seen those too. The only one I knew of personally was a Tech Sergeant that showed up to our unit (PCS) wearing jump wings and a Purple Heart that were unearned. Some others claim things like "I went to jump and HALO school, but they lost my records so I can't wear them." Those tend to be the ones you just ignore.

There are all kinds of reasons people join the Guard (or Reserve) instead of staying active duty. College, family, better paying job opportunities, or sometimes just burned out from the day to day uniform wear. It can happen. Sometimes, it's a "break", a case of "I'm finishing my degree and getting my commission."

Overall, a fancy badge that seems out of place is not a surefire sign that the person is a poser.

[raivo]

Yeah, I should've been more clear.

A SEAL badge on an Army guy isn't out of the question, but it's significantly out-of-the-ordinary that I can't believe he didn't think *someone* would notice and check up on it or call him out. I mean... EVERYBODY sees the badges you wear. You always hear about people who make up stories about being in the military, but even they have some degree of control over who they tell their story to; I imagine they'd probably tone it down if they thought they were talking to somebody who had the knowledge to out them as a fake.

Putting it out in the open like that... yeah. Just dumb.

[JK657]

All badges from other services must be authorized in writing by the G-1 prior to being worn on an Army uniform. I see soldiers all the time with badges from the navy, air force, marines, and I just ask them one question: Where is your letter authorizing it? If they don't have it, off it goes.