Research pedes, question? Where would you begin to research someone's military history?
🧐 Research Wanted 🤔
This person speaks in very vague terms and I'd just like to take a peek to see what's real.
You mentioned "very vague terms"...that is usually a dead give away.
Also, what "military history" items are you trying to research? Military branch? Units served with? Dates of service? Personal awards (medals)? Areas of service? Combat experience? Et Cetera...
I could point you to some sources if I had some of the information mentioned above.
"ARandomOgre" gave an excellent starting point:
https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records
This man has been doing this for several years, not sure if you have ever heard of Don Shipley but here is one of his sites, also has a youtube channel.
Sorry, forgot to post link: https://videos.extremesealexperience.com/
Yeah, I think mainly seals. He may have some videos that would point people in the right direction for research though. Haven't seen any of his videos in awhile, really great job he does though from what I have watched.
Liar's who are trying to exaggerate their life experiences to seem cooler or more interesting, generally lie about more than one thing. If you think someone's lying about military service, then start looking for other lies in their lives that you can prove. If you can catch them out on another "life experience" lie, then you'll have your answer.
Start here.
https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records
EDIT: Did a little research.
You are correct that a fire appears to have affected many of the records of those discharged up until the year 1964, which would affect all Korea vets and a significant portion of Vietnam vets. However, the records people themselves said they can still confirm whether the vets actually served, even if they can't recreate specific details of each individual record.
https://www.archives.gov/news/articles/archives-recalls-fire
They were apparently able to cross-reference a lot of other records to prove that people served.
It's just my experience that when an alleged vet is both making vague claims as well as claiming their records were lost or highly secret or whatever, it's a bullshit story. The military will confirm whether or not someone served, and usually in what capacity, and usually over what time frame they served. I don't think the fire erased these people from the military institutional knowledge and makes them impossible to find via a regular FOIA request.
"What's your MOS?"
"Oh, super secret. I was a SEAL."
"Yeah? What class number?"
"Classified. They didn't let me around the other fake SEALs in BUD/S because they were afraid I might accidentally hurt them."
"Uh huh. So that ribbon says you served in Derkistan during the Flout Offensive, right? What was that like?"
"Oh yeah, it was bonkers man. Fire everywhere."
"Yeah, that completely made up battle at that completely made up place must have been wild, huh?"