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I couldn't tell if someone is wearing current Army uniforms correctly, or not. They have changed considerably from my time in the service (when I joined, we were transitioning from 501 to BDU). Now they have the digital/ACU/whatever, and the green Class A is about to go away in favor of Army Blue.

One huge change is sunglasses: in my day, they were strictly prohibited while in uniform. Now you see soldiers wearing them all the time. And the policy on headgear has either changed, or just isn't enforced.

PeteCamp wrote:

Were you sure they were military?

giga04 ... I'm sure they were not Federal Law Enforcement. Two of our church members were, at the time, high ranking USBP (Deputy Chief, Chief of Operations and something else ... ). They were eating breakfast with me when these five guys came in and were invited to sit with us at our table. They were all in civvies and unarmed. My two friends later told me they were helping BP agents, but not exactly how. They are the ones who told me the guys were not Federal agents of any kind, but were specialists on temporary duty. Looking and listening to them, it seemed certain to me they were active duty something. Later I heard about military sensors and other stuff, so maybe that is what they did.

"Specialists on temporary duty" implies they were either private contractors, agents from other government orgs, or pseudo-private contractors like Blackwater/Xe.

bronco78 wrote: In days gone past,, Unit leadership (non MP) used to go grab soldiers off post for a verity of reasons, AWOL, drunk and disorderly, ect ect.. not any more,, fastest way to get arrested by Local police is to go do your job as a NCO.. OFF POST... And Once upon a time both MP's and Senior NCOS used to patrol off post to maintain a Military presence to both help keep the soldiers straight and to receive those caught by LEO in minor offenses.

Yes, we used "Courtesy Patrol", wearing CP brassards, during my time in the Army in Germany in the '80s. They did the same at Hood in the '50s, but Dad always said the CP stood for "Cathouse Patrol".

I'm leaning towards either mall ninja, or a local LEO (or wannabe), with a misunderstanding about what he actually claimed to be.

The term "Special Operations Forces" is a catch-all for all U.S. special combat units, and not something soldiers typically say. They claim whatever they happen to be: Rangers, SF, MARSOC, SEALs, Pararescue, etc., etc.... That is, if they make any claim at all. Most are pretty quiet about what they do, and do little to draw attention to it (other than Rangers ).

The only uniform-wearing soldiers who routinely wear an issue sidearm off post are MPs. Anyone else would have a heckuva time even getting one out of the arms room, much less off post. If this is an actual soldier, chances are he's carrying a personally owned firearm in uniform, which is a big no-no.

I honestly don't care if he's breaking the law. It's a stupid law, one most of us wish to see abolished (well... several laws: school premises ban, open carry ban, and federal GFSZA). But he's throwing all kinds of red flags by his behavior, and I wouldn't feel comfortable until someone checked him out.