If you syphoned the drama out of this featured stolen valor incident — which took place recently at the end of an Indiana high school graduation — it would go something like this:

Marine notices that an older, balding dude in a Marine uniform filing out of the ceremony looks ridiculous and bogus. He calls him out, the faker flees, the faker’s family is stunned and forced to pick up the pieces.

The real Marine? He wins.

The fake? He loses. Needs a new wardrobe.

 

Of course, there’s more to this story.

The longer, richer, more melodramatic (and true) version goes something like this — and was documented in the description of the original YouTube clip — supplied by the website Guardian of Valor …

Here it is (caution: it reads like a minuscule, condensed Russian novel):

This video was filmed at a NoblesVille Indiana High School graduation.(We covered the girlfriend and her family’s faces for privacy) A Marine and his father, who were attending the Marines brothers graduation noticed the fake when leaving the graduation. They approached and the father started filming. After the confrontation, the fake Marine fled and was nowhere to be found. The girlfriend of the fake and her family had no clue he was a fake, she was recently divorced and this fake was wooing her. She, and her two sons, one whom was also graduating, thanked the Marine and his father for what they did. The now former girlfriend said she thought something wasn’t right, but wasn’t quite sure.