^^^

Don’t you mean XVIII Airborne Corps?

Yes, fixed, XVIII Airborne - the "puking dragon"

To my knowledge these folks are not collecting VA benefits or a pension. The motivations of the imposters differ. It is rather pitiful. With the advent of the internet and better records these imposters are soon discovered.

Both myself and wife are US Army vets from the Viet Nam era.. She served 8 1/2yrs total and I served (69-70) on and inside the Korean DMZ (105mm howitzers)/Drill Sgt. field artillery (Ft. Sill,Okla ) and Cold Regions Test Center ( Ft. Greely, Alaska) 9 1/2 total served........ We respect anyone who served even as a cook/clerk/mechanic or what ever job they might have done. Even those that stayed stateside and were never deployed to a combat/hostile fire zone...... If you earned the badge / pin / ribbon so be it... But for those saying they did things/ served in certain locations during certain periods of time we have no respect for those ----holes. Especially those using the stolen valor for personal gain for things of value ... But it does make me feel good when they get caught and exposed for what they did and hopefully have to be held accountable. .....Have to get off this soap box now .........drill sgt.

For context-

I was in the 82nd from March '78 to October of '80.
While there I attended the 18th Abn Corps Recondo School. Completing it was made a Divisional pre-requisite to attend Ranger school (but then funding was cut and I didn't get to go back to Benning for that). I also went thru Jumpmaster school during that tour of duty. And I attended the Jungle Warfare course in Panama, and scored a set of foreign jump wings during OCONUS training. This was all as an MP.
After leaving active duty, I spent several years in a Reserve unit bored out of my mind, but I also picked up 2 more MOS certs.
Found out there was a Reserve SF unit nearby, and transferred over. Did the Q Course mostly by correspondence course, with three week active duty trips to Bragg for all the practical tests at the end of each phase. I think I was in the last class that did it that way... afterwards, it was all active duty from start to finish.
My point is this: MY CV is not too far different from the one the OP describes. He doesn't say how old the claimant is, but if he's in his early 60's, it could all be close to true.

That said, I really don't talk about that stuff these days, and I have a certain level of skepticism about those who do... 40+ years later.

(Oh, and by the way, we called it the "Gaggin' Dragon" back then.)