I Got a Purple Heart for War and I Ain't Never Left the City

The Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation is lobbying for tougher laws to punish people who fraudently claim to have military awards, which would require shifting resources away from catching child molesters and murderers.

The organization reports that there are 113 living recipients of the nation's highest military award, but an FBI agent who tracks the fakes said impostors outnumber the true heroes.

"There are more and more of these impostors, and they are literally stealing the valor and acts of valor of the real guys," said Agent Tom Cottone, who also works on an FBI violent crime squad in West Paterson, N.J.

Some fakers merely brag about receiving the award — and that's not illegal — but some impostors wear military uniforms and bogus medals. The FBI has about 25 pending investigations of such phony heroes, said Cottone.

Uh, way to prioritize your resources G-Men. As someone who won a Medal of Honor in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Gulf War I, and Gulf War II, I certainly get frustrated when other people wear fake medals; but should it be a crime? It certainly shouldn't be something that the FBI focuses even one dollar of its scarce law enforcement resources on.

My offensive post from last year on using fake purple hearts to get laid here.