I'm in the forces and I wouldn't say it's a particularly serious thing as it doesn't really hurt anyone really. I'm in the minority with this view though when I speak to my colleagues. If putting on a few medals and pretending they're something they're not helps some people with mental illness get through their lives a bit more easily, then I'm okay with that, it's when it's done for financial gain (basically fraud) that I have a major issue with it.

I have much bigger issues with actual ex forces people who use that to try and get special treatment because the ones who do that tend to be the ones who only did a year or two before being kicked out for being utter shits or something like that.