Stolen Valor and Military Imposters: Exploring Impact and Deception

Overview: This research is a three-part series representing interrelated strands of research on the impact and deception of military imposters and phenomenon of Stolen Valor. This study utilizes an ecological perspective to create a framework for micro, mezzo, and macro strategies in social work practice.Proposal text: This three-article study will explore the military impersonation phenomenon as it has a sociological impact on those deceived to better understand the need for military culture competence among social workers. Culturally competent social workers should be well prepared for practice with the military population to include military members, veterans, and their families, not only with the Department of Defense and Department of Veteran Affairs, yet within the civilian sector outside of military installations and agencies or contracted with the military. This study utilizes an ecological perspective to create a framework for micro, mezzo, and macro strategies in social work practice. The unfamiliarity of the topic for social work and the lack of research around this topic drive this exploratory research.

In the field of social work practice, social workers will encounter individuals from diverse backgrounds. Cultural competence is an ethical principle based on social work’s core values. The first article of this study will focus on the micro perspective of those impacted by military imposters. This research seeks to clarify if certain characteristics among individuals in various relationships with military imposters affect the degree of deception experienced. This study aims to identify the relationship between the impact of deception and the demographics of those deceived by military imposters, as well as to understand the impact of deception on familial, romantic, professional/business, and platonic relationships.

The second article of this study will focus on the mezzo perspective of military impersonation through a phenomenological study to understand the impact of deception on cadets deceived by a military imposter through a military-style gym (community of interest). This study aims to better understand the impact of leadership deception for community groups designed to benefit from activities believed to be associated with military personnel.

The research for the third article focuses on the macro perspective and examines the range of systematic impact of military deception. This exploratory study aims to demonstrate the need for social workers to have a basic understanding of military cultural competency and examine social work cultural competence for social work practice outside of military installations, the Department of Veteran Affairs, and service-connected agencies to prevent deception from military imposters and aid individuals who have been deceived.

This study will aim to build understanding about military impersonation to prevent civilians and veterans service officials from being deceived. This improved understanding has the potential to benefit research and social work policies in multiple capacities. Providing social workers with a better understanding of the characteristics of military impersonation can enable practitioners in recognizing false military narratives presented by civilians. Additionally, enhanced recognition of false military narratives would assist clinicians in providing appropriate treatment plans to individuals presenting fictional or embellished military backgrounds during mental health treatment. Finally, providing social workers employed with Veterans Affairs and other support agencies with the tools needed to recognize fraudulent claims would protect limited resources intended for genuinely qualified veterans.