Misrepresentation

MikeD

Administrator
Staff member
Most have probably noticed the thread in the General Forum and Military Forum where a poster going by the handle of "TomCatter" has been getting called out. "TomCatter" had introduced himself as a US Naval officer that flew F-14 Tomcats with squadron VF-31, incidentally the "Tomcatters", supposedly based at Naval Air Station Miramar, California. It has been suspected, and was finally confirmed, that "TomCatter" was actually a fraud, and is in fact, not an F-14 pilot, not a member of VF-31, and not a US Naval Officer. I had my doubts regarding his authenticity, as he couldn't answer basic questions about the F-14 Tomcat, nothing classified mind you, yet information more than one could garner from the internet.....information that one could really only know if they actually did the job of naval aviation and actually strapped the jet to their back for a living.

As it turns out, VF-31 is in fact based at NAS Oceana, Virginia, as are all the few remaining F-14 Tomcat squadrons in the USN. In fact, NAS Miramar hasn't been an NAS since 1997, when it changed to an MCAS, or Marine Corps Air Station, with only Marine aircraft based there, and no naval fighters. This is basic information that any naval pilot would know and wouldn't "forget", as he claimed to with his inaccurate F-14 information. That would be akin to me suddenly "remembering" that the A-10 has a 30mm cannon after claiming it has a 20mm cannon. Mistakes like that just aren't made.

Which leads me into what I'm going to talk about next: Posing. Posing with a title you haven't earned, and misrepresenting yourself as someone you aren't is just plain wrong, and highly offensive. It's wrong because it's a blatant lie, plain and simple. Further, if you pass yourself off as an expert on a certain subject, then give wrong information to someone who truly believes you are who you claim to be, that's not only wrong, that's outright fraud. Secondly, and more inportantly, posing is disrespectful and highly offensive to others who are the real deal. TomCatter hasn't the first freaking clue what it takes to become an F-14 pilot, much less a military pilot at all. The qualifying, the selection, the years of intense training, just to earn the title of fighter pilot. It's offensive to those that have done the hard work to earn the title. Say, for example, that someone came on the board posing as an American Airlines MD-80 captain, when in reality, they were Joe-152 student pilot from Podunk FBO or Overprice Flight Academy. How should Doug feel about that when it was discovered that the person was actually a fraud? When this fraud never did the years of schooling while living on nothing, never graduated broke and looking for ANY CFI job around that would barely pay the bills, never dealt with the fear and danger of teaching foreign students just to be able to log an extra 1.5 multi, never worked as a commuter co-pilot making poverty wages and living in every shanty town in the midwest, never "paid their dues", never "climbed the ladder", never did what it took and never put up with the crap involved in order to be able to earn the coveted title of Delta Airlines pilot. Never made it to the top.

How should Doug feel about someone like that?

In my case, referencing the TomCatter case....never got deployed to really crappy locations, never been shot at, never did a job that few can qualify for, yet averages about $1.86/hour after one figures in all the hours put in at work, not only in the peacetime US, but abroad in the war zones. Not to mention posing as a military officer being a felony.

How should I feel about that?

How should you feel about this?
 
Right on MikeD! There is absolutely NO excuse for someone who is PRETENDING to be what we all are working hard, spending God knows how much, and generally devoting our lives to becoming! I knew something was strange when he mentioned Miramar which I believe is now known as the Marine "Hornets Nest". Thanks for cleaning house MikeD.
 
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yeah, good catch MikeD. That guy was an idiot. People like that won't get very far in life.

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If someone feels the need to pose like this, at least get basic facts straight and know something about what you claim to be.

And don't write like a 15 year old.

Review his posts in Search, you'll see what I mean.
 
Well said, MikeD. I agree 100%.

And I want to add - in the past we've had problems with representatives of flight schools representing themselves as prospective students posting about how great they heard XYZ flight school was.

If you come in here and misrepresent yourself to drum up business for yourself or your business, then don't be surprised if you get the big boot.
 
Thanks man. I'm in the process of juggling about thirty hot fire pokers and I can't even juggle!

Thanks for researching it and taking care of it.

Misrepresentation in the forums is a pain in the butt because it denegrates the validity of posts.

I'm afraid there's a couple more lingering, but we'll get to the bottom of it.
 
I have to agree. Before I would ever say I was British I spent many hours learning the accent, the subtle language differences, the culture (i.e. sports, history, food tradition, etc), and all the other things you need to be British (like all the words to the Beatles songs). It was only then at the age of 11 (shortly after moving to America), after spending all my life studying these would I claim to be British.
 
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And don't write like a 15 year old.

[/ QUOTE ] Wait, so they don't say "prolly" instead of "probably" in the Navy? Damn, I was trying to use it more often in my daily speech so that I could sound like a real Navy aviator!
 
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I have to agree. Before I would ever say I was British I spent many hours learning the accent, the subtle language differences, the culture (i.e. sports, history, food tradition, etc), and all the other things you need to be British (like all the words to the Beatles songs). It was only then at the age of 11 (shortly after moving to America), after spending all my life studying these would I claim to be British.

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Being that I ran into you in London, you sounded British and the first restaraunt you reccomended was Indian, I think you'd qualify as British!
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Or "Bri-ish!"

Two blocks down, go past the tipper lorry, watch our for the pissed blokes, mind the gap then bob's yer uncle!
 
Ferreting a navy guy out is easy. Just ask him what day they usually had tacos on!
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Or ask them about bug juice, "dog poo"/autodogs, or have 'em since you a barnacle bill song.
 
The Warrant Officer's Creed is

" I will not lie, cheat or steal, nor tolerate those who do"

Be sure your sins will find you out.
 
It's ok man, just pick a login name. No one holds a grudge for long, at least I don't!
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I have to agree. Before I would ever say I was British I spent many hours learning the accent, the subtle language differences, the culture (i.e. sports, history, food tradition, etc), and all the other things you need to be British (like all the words to the Beatles songs). It was only then at the age of 11 (shortly after moving to America), after spending all my life studying these would I claim to be British.

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Being that I ran into you in London, you sounded British and the first restaraunt you reccomended was Indian, I think you'd qualify as British!
smile.gif


Or "Bri-ish!"

Two blocks down, go past the tipper lorry, watch our for the pissed blokes, mind the gap then bob's yer uncle!

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See how good I was - I am really a Sudanese Australian.
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Eh, you can't trust AOL IP addresses as far as you can traceroute 'em. That's probably a proxy server.
 
Right on MikeD! "prolly" DOH, I mean "probably" flew A-10's!
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Double DOH!

Yes, not cool posing. I have a confession. I have been posing too. I'm really not a "sky king"!
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It dates me though, as Sky King was a tv show when I was a kid in the 60's. It was an early influence for me.
Aw 'cmon Iain, I can still detect your Britt accent! Mate.

And one more thing, welcome to the moderators club, it's good to have you on board, you certainly don't pull any punches. One more thing(this time I really mean it!), I loved your comments on the aviation college/Citationkid thread when you responed with tyh;ids ldfpowfj,wah up dfd!LOL!I was rollin'!
 
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Although I hate play NBC Dateline's John Stossel...

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Wow you guys think you're clever?

We used the same computer last night - I'm on an overnight in Orlando and JT used my laptop to make a post when I went to the bathroom.

He told me he had a surprise for me ... jerk!

He is trying to make you think I'm him!

Now what do I do to get back at him?
 
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