Fact From Fiction - Details in 20 materials

So this is going to be a bit of an odd post. It’s spurred from the recent decision to start adding more and more realistic items into the Ready Room Videos. One of my recent bizzarro purchases was a pair of M43 Jungle Boots. Why? I desperately wanted to shine boots again. I don’t know why. Im confused too. Anyways, my old NWU Type 1 Boots were so scuffed up (because I actually hated shining when I was in) that I couldn’t shine them anymore. So I needed a new pair of boots for it, and apparently the Rothco Jungle Boots were a good pick.

Well this purchase led to a interesting conversation about stuff that appears onscreen. You all have probably seen my dress whites and my 8 point cap that shows up from time to time. You’ve probably also seen my dixie cup, and I was issued all of those things. I wore them while I was in. And I’ve always felt that they brought a weird kinda feeling of authenticity to the ready room, just like the C64 or the CRTs did. However, You guys have also seen my CWU-4 jacket and my VF-634 Command Ball Cap. Now I did wear a MA-1 Flight Jacket a lot while I was in as part of my civies, but obviously VF-634 is not a real squadron and therefore never had a command ball cap. I had those made.

This is one of those things that people point to a lot whenever I’m accused of stolen valor (a annoyingly frequent event at this point). Im told that how dare I claim to have led a squadron and stuff like that. Well I don’t, because whenever I’m doing one of those briefings I’m more so playing a character. There’s actually a lot of great details of the CAG’s stuff in videos if you pay close attention. Like his lighter is actually a 1945 Zippo model, because that’s what was still common in the 80’s and modern Zippos came around in 1992. He’s running got a litany of vinyl records in the room including Glenn Miller, implying he’s old fashioned even in 80’s standards. And the smoking (Although I quit smoking in 2020) is actually a reference to how stupidly common that behavior is in the military (An issue made worse by the military’s indifference to mental health).

Why am I bringing all of this up? Well, when I was looking for the Jungle Boots, I remembered a concept I had to put together a 1983 authentic pair of khakis. In theory, this remains possible, and would be fairly authentic as that’s what officers of the day would have worn. Well on camera it would look great, but i’d look pretty stupid as a captain wearing my actual ribbon rack. So we have 2 options at this point, build myself an actual pair of NSUs that I would have realistically worn, or accept that I’m playing a character and build a prop uniform. At this point I think it makes sense. The CAG as a character acts wildly different from how I would act IRL, and I never claim that I actually did all of his incredible feats. People who aren’t divorced from reality should have no trouble telling the difference, but I wanted to put this to paper regardless.

I hate actual cases of stolen valor, but I love reenactors. One of my favorite was this group that reenacted the briefing for the Battle of Midway at the Reading World War 2 Weekend. I loved that. It was almost a child like dream to be handed orders from Admiral Nimitz. Those orders actually remain framed in the ready room by the way. I also got a kick from talking to those guys afterwards and hearing that some of those “Admirals” were actually officers in the Navy, albeit a long time ago. I kind of make peace with what I’m doing, by comparing it to what they were doing. They were helping everyone feel an experience of history, and I hope I get close enough to do the same.

Anyways, TLDR: If you see a ribbon rack saying I was in Vietnam. No I wasn’t, It’s part of the character.