Whatever sells, no matter how bogus!

       As a veteran of 26 years'  Naval service, I am uneasy with the frequency with which the term "veteran's" has been appropriated by numerous non-veterans business entities, apparently on the belief that somehow the word implies  competence and/or integrity. One local lawyer poses in his tv ads in front of a camouflage painted Humvee. The message is clear, I guess. " I'm a better attorney because I was a soldier 35 years ago."    There was a "Veteran's auto sales" in Orlando which scammed numerous students while I was the Senior Enlisted Advisor at Nuclear Power School. There are several financial institutions, none of them with any real affiliation with veteran's groups who try to get you in the door with the word 'Veterans'" on the logo. On US 301,  an ambulance chaser law firm has huge signs portraying the three partners and listing their military service below. Why not list their law school standings, and give the consumer something they can use to make an informed decision?  Every one of us who was in the  military if we were being honest would admit that we had contact with a very wide slice of society, some competent, some lifelong friends and some (a relatively small percentage) dirtbags for whom the military was the County Sheriff's alternative to jail. Mercifully, in the modern age this is much less so, since recruiting standards are higher.

          More recently, the Lt. Governor of Florida has resigned . Ms. Carroll, a Navy Veteran has disgraced herself and my service by being intimately involved with "Allied Veterans of the World" a company claiming to serve veterans, but serving investors much better. This sham organization's "fund raising centers" were, in actuality, little more than internet slot machine sites which violated Florida law. They returned a microscopic .02% of what they "raised" to veterans' organizations!    

          I also see the "fish" symbol and other Christian symbols used as business enticements, where the standard of proof ought to be  competence and honesty. I get it, you're proud of your service and your beliefs, but in the marketplace, neither is a guarantor of quality, craftsmanship, or, unfortunately in the real world, integrity in business dealings.  The same is true of GEICO the name "Government Employees Insurance Corporation" implies at least some government imprimatur, endorsement or connection. Of course GEICO has none of those, in fact, it's owned by Warren Buffett (Berkshire-Hathaway) which is really a stronger recommendation!

          So think about the real world. It's time to quit hijacking legitimate honorifics for dishonorable or financial gain.  Timothy McVeigh was a veteran, James Holmes was a Lutheran,  John Wayne Gayce was a Jaycee, and Bernie Madoff was an observant Jew and board member of Yeshiva University.

          If this trend continues I can see it coming  "Now on sale, O'Shaunessey's Kosher Veteran Government Employee Pork sausage,  The kind Jesus would eat!"