When you have a lot of these sort of Walter Mittys sitting around in cubicles and watching the war go by, people coming back, and they just want to skip that whole boot camp and combat stage and go straight to the hero adoration stage. But these cases actually increase during times of war. TURLEY: Well, I think that's the uniform reaction of everyone is a sense of just revulsion and anger, particularly at a time of war. Professor JONATHAN TURLEY (George Washington University): Thank you, Neal.ĬONAN: And you agree that this is terrible behavior on anybody's part to pretend to - these great distinctions that they have not earned. He's a professor of public interest law at George Washington University and joins us here in Studio 3A. Email us: And we've posted a link to Jonathan Turley's opinion piece 'Stolen Valor is Offensive, But Is It a Crime?' at npr.org. Do you agree? Why or why not? If you've served in the military, if you've earned those honors, give us a call: 80. In an opinion piece in today's USA Today, Jonathan Turley agrees that claiming unearned military awards is unseemly but not criminal. He is just one of nearly 50 people who have been prosecuted under the Stolen Valor Act, a 2005 law that makes claiming unearned military honors, valor theft, a federal crime. McManus has never been a soldier in the U.S. Michael McManus showed off an Army uniform, decorated top to bottom with military honors and medals, from a Purple Heart to parachute wings, even a medal that appeared to make him a commander of the British Empire.

Last month, a man in Houston was arrested after appearing at a December party for the mayor-elect. Now, when pretending to be something you're not is a crime.

Stolen valor act