This footage was taken near the Macdill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, and it shows U.S. Army veteran Garrett Goodwin confronting a panhandler wearing a military uniform in traffic to try and scam people out of money. The panhandler wearing the uniform was reportedly spewing some story about how he was formerly Special Forces and conducted missions so secret that the VA and U.S. government refused to acknowledge them, but in reality he was just telling lies.
My opinions of panhandlers aside, if you’re going to dress up in a United States Military uniform (of any branch of the Armed Forces) and try to spit some story about how you’re a veteran, then you better be goddamn sure that you served in the military. How did this scam artist think he was going to get away with this crap? He’s posted up just outside of an Air Force Base and thinks that nobody will think to check up on his story? That he can just wear fatigues and a ROTC patch and everyone will just take his word for it? Is the brutally hot sun of Florida to blame for making his man so delusional he actually thought he might get away with this scam?
Thankfully he was confronted, the uniform was tossed aside by the scam artist, and no blows were thrown. Because nothing would have been more unfortunate than to see the actual Army veteran get brought up on charges for attacking a panhandler. Now if only this video was shot with the phone held correctly….
[tip of the hat to Smitty @ BarstoolSports for finding and sharing this video]