I think this is a BS story. I’m sure most veterans have a “knee that has been bothering them since so and so date”. He probably thought it was scar tissue or whatever other thing that athletes just accept as pain they have to deal with. And finally asked his Dr if there was anything they could do about it. I don’t think it was malicious and I don’t think it was cheating. It just turned out that it was probably more serious than he thought.