Must have been because he is a Marine. No Navy Naval Aviator
would have objected to being tested to see if he was a fake,
wannabe, Naval Aviator or the real deal. How dare he react like
that! He should have swallowed your insult without comment.

Late reply, but that couldn't have been it because he didn't know that
when I asked the question. He really thought it was some kind of prank from
a junior marine, which is why I was wondering if that sort of thing was
common. I appreciate that the "test" was/is somewhat insulting (why I
apologized for it), but after having several people try to pass themselves
off, I thought I'd just ask a simple question first before I started asking
"real" questions. And again, the gentleman in question was just that, a
gentleman who gave me some really interesting info about marine aviation.
I'm not at all insulted by any of his behavior, just curious as to why he
automatically thought I was a m.a. student.
I've done the same with many of the pilots who post in this newsgroup
(and .military), and have found just about every single one of them to be
very informative and helpful (and they understand the need to be careful of
wannabes). It's been said before, but it's worth saying again that their
contributions certainly make this newsgroup worth coming to, and their
personal contributions to my curiosity have certainly helped me learn a lot
more about military aviation. Thanks guys (and gal)!

Tony