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I just got of the phone to a guy who called himself Don. He claimed to be a member of the SAS.

He told me that in the SAS they never refer to eachother by their rank or ever as 'Sir'. He says that they just call eachother by their first names, from the top brass down.

Is this true or have I just had my first conversation with a real life Walter Mitty?

From reading a few books, life is much more relaxed once you get into the regiment... Why were you talking to a SAS bloke anyway?

Edwards159 wrote: life is much more relaxed once you get into the regiment

How do you know that? Anyway, when they give you your beret if you complete and pass selection they say to you, "its harder to keep than it is to get".

James

I work in a broadcasting company and I have contact with the public as part of my job. "Don" called me about the security of reporters in Iraq.

Relaxed maybe. But would you address to your superiors with "Yes Jim" or "Yes Dave" rather than "Yes Sir"....?

james (future Para) wrote:

Edwards159 wrote: life is much more relaxed once you get into the regiment

How do you know that?
James

From the following books,

C.Q.B-Mike Curtis
For Queen & Country-Nigel Spud Ely
Fighting Scared-Robin Horsfall

However i do think you would address your superiors as 'Sir'

That is what I would assume.

That is what made me think that he may be a Walter. That and the fact that he said he was SAS when there was no need to specify this. It would have been acceptable for this gentleman to say he was Military or Army.

To say he was SAS and for him to tell me a load of unrelated information about how his wife has had to change her telephone number four times this year (for security reasons he claimed) also brought me to the conclusion he may not be who he was claiming to be.

I was interested to see if what he said was even factual.

So,, You were speaking to him and he randomly came out with 'Im ex SAS'.

Why were you speaking to him in the first place??

More or less, yeah but not ex-SAS. He implied that said he was serving. I can't remember what he said verbatim but it went something like this.

Don: Your reporters should be wearing body armour. They may be in a green zone but as the Americans are finding out it is still not safe.

Me: Ok. Well, I'll let the powers that be know how you feel.

Don: Thank you. My names Don by the way. It's not my real name but it's the name they call me up in Hereford. They don't address you by your rank there, just by your first name. Even the top brass. It's to fool the ememy you know. They would love to kill the top men first.

Me: Right. I take it you are ex special forces then?

Don: No. I'm still serving...Just got back from Iraq. I been there a few times this year already...My wife has had to change her number four times this year when I've been away...It's hard for the wife and family when I have to go away on short notice for a few days or weeks...

If he is Special forces,, Good luck to him and well done...

If he's full a shit what a sad c@#t he is.. Dont worry about it mate

Pasha,

Thanks for the reply.

This 'Pseudologica-Fantastica' condition is very interesting to me. I used to share a house with a nurse who I exhibited some of the signs that she may have this condition.

She used to pretend to be talking to someone on the telephone and was going through a major drama or crisis. She was a very convincing actor, tears, the lot. I was only convinced that no one was at the other end when I unplugged the phone from the wall and the converation with the person supposedly at the other end continued. (She was on a cordless phone)

This happened very often. I was convinced she was nuts so I moved out.

She's working in a hospital in Galway now.

I don't know about the SAS but in the limited RMR training I used to overhear the Staff (mostly regular or ex-regular) referring to each other by First names or nicknames, even officers - not as far as Marine to Captain interactions but Sergents to Leftenents or Captins, etc, this wasn't always the case but extremly common.
It seemed pretty relaxed between the trained ranks, this applied at Lympston as well where it was all Regular training team.
We were also reminded quite a lot that in the units it was relaxed and there was a lot of emphesis on self discipline.

Not that I know much, i'm sure theres some other members on the forum who do.

Besids who cares if he's a mitty or not anyway...

JZ.

Hey guys,
With regards to this 'Pseudologica-Fantastica' that Pasha and others mentioned, I encountered a case of this recently involving a mate of mine. It seems that from about June onwards this mate was going around town telling other friends (who I don't talk to very often), that this girl we know was his girlfriend. And it didn't stop at the simple lad sh!t talking stage it progressed to the point of fake phone conversations with his alledged 'girlfriend', to fake text messages and all sorts of dilusions.
He never mentioned any of it to me, as being good friends with the chick who was supposedly his girlfriend, I would have instantly known it was BS. However the whole plot came unstuck about a month ago when one of those who had recieved the story from the nut, ran into the 'girlfriend' and she had no knowledge of her boyfriend and hadn't even seen the guy in 6 months. Anyway, since being caught out, this mate of mine has almost totally withdrawn and become a hermit. He doesn't answer calls or emails, it's worrying actually. I think he really needs some help.
Sorry for the long winded, largely irrelavent story lads, I guess it goes to show that there are Walters in all walks of life. I think some insecure and lonely people make things up, and start to believe it themselves, to try to add something to their lives. Sad.
Cheers guys,
Josh.