It's not that any of us here doubt you. However, verification is still a necessary step in the process. This site, and others like it, have been burned before by people claiming to be things that they were not. Being verified also lends more credibility to your posts, as everyone can see right away that you have served and are not some self-proclaimed expert with no experience to back it up. It will save us time searching for your background, and save you the hassle of constantly having to answer questions about your service.
As far as the no scanner situation goes, I believe an e-mail from a .mil address also suffices. There is a tab at the top of the page labeled "Vetting" that will have more info on the process.