Us service folk like to tell 3% truths and 97% fairy tale
It's like this, as a part of an amphibious raid unit I do things that are considered "special operations." Raid tactics themselves are sometimes classified as such (in fact, it was raid type operations that led to the birth of the SAS and SBS for example), but this doesn't make me some commando or part of any Special Operations community. We're a rifle company that also does amphibious raids if the order comes to do it.
A lot of guys like to blow up what they do and when they go on leave they stick badges and stuff that has nothing to do with what they did... or they've participated kinda and make a big fuss out of it.
So in other words, EOD guys aren't the only ones who exagerrate. So beware. Some guys claim that some of us have done a mock raid of North Korea, IN North Korea. That is such crap. The only piece of dirt we've ever raided was our own little beach we have here.
In EOD telling tales will get people killed, because if someone tells me they did this or that a certain way, well, I may be working on something and give it a try if I'm out of options.
In EOD we also only talk to other Techs about what goes on, as what does go on is classified, highly classified.
And I can say in EOD, many times, the truth is stranger than fiction.
Now, you take a Raid on North Korea, a good rule of thumb is, for someone telling you they went on a Raid in North Korea, is it never happened, because if such did take place odds are they would not be talking to you about it in the first place, unless it has already been made public knowledge, and even if it were public knowledge, I know if I was on a Raid in North Korea, I would not want my name put out associated with it, because the North Koreans may take offence to such a thing.
On the other hand, take RnderSafe for instance, he can be working on the other side of the Earth, doing something we all do, and taken for granted as the way things work. But, he is working and the thing we all do no longer works the way it always did in the past.
Well, I know about that right away, because RnderSafe, if he is still alive, sends out traffic that gets to myself, as well as everyone else in the Field, to tell us what is different, what is new, what he did that worked, what will not work.
Now, I don't go down to the Club and say "well you know there was this Marine doing this and that, here and there, and something happened unexpectedly, so we all do this now" because if the person had a need to know such the person would already know about it, without me being the one to tell him or her.