Don Shipley, Navy SEAL, Has A New Mission: Find And Expose Phony Navy SEAL Posers [Video]

Don Shipley is a man with nothing to hide, which is more than can be said for his victims.

A Navy SEAL with the BUD/S to prove it — and posers, if you don’t know what that is, you’d better find out in a hurry — Shipley has discovered a new and entertaining mission on YouTube.

That mission: to track down and expose people who make phony claims that they are Navy SEALs.

Shipley’s video series, fittingly titled “Phony Navy SEAL of the Week,” routinely gets hundreds of thousands of views on the video sharing site.

Some are former SEALs themselves, while others are simply great admirers of how skillfully the man weaves his web and entraps each poser into giving away their lies.

He uses basic interrogation techniques to get the guys talking. Once they start revealing things to him, however, he starts picking apart the inaccuracies until there is nothing left but humiliation.

It’s fun to watch, particularly if you’re the type of person who loves to see tough talkers getting their comeuppance.

Recently, the Washingtonian‘s Michael Gaynor had the chance to interview Don Shipley — or so he thought — when he was invited to Gaynor’s Extreme SEAL Experience compound in Chesapeake, Virginia.

While there, Gaynor agreed to walk through a program Shipley offers that simulates Hell Week, a grueling rite of passage that every SEAL must endure. Don Shipley goes easy on his guests, reducing the whole week to a 24-hour marathon of mud and grit known as Hell Night, though Gaynor is the first to tell you it wasn’t the easiest day at the office.

People pay $2,350 for the honor. Before they inevitably break down and vomit, they are to alert the staff so they can be photographed for the ESE Facebook page.

But even though the experience can be grueling and humbling, you’ll leave with Shipley’s respect, which is more than can be said for his Internet victims.

https://youtu.be/7SuXe3CCWPI

Those people invite disdain in the 24-year veteran, who spent 19 of those years as a SEAL. He’s earned the right to be angry, and appears to have found a healthy form of release for that anger.

In this video — one of the more hilarious — Shipley shares a gallery of phonies along with a warning to anyone who advertises themselves as a Navy SEAL online: you’d better have the BUD/S to prove it or “I’ll be on you like a hobo on a ham sandwich.”

https://youtu.be/ifQOrviEgV4

Do you think posing as a Navy SEAL is a victimless crime, or are people like Don Shipley right to be furious? Sound off in the comments section.

[Image of Don Shipley via YouTube screen grab]