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?
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?