As a veteran do you prefer to be a "quiet professional" or "outspoken patriot"?

Few people realize that the Green Berets traditional role is to train foreign armies - the only arm of the military designed especially for this purpose. They're known as the "quiet professionals" because they work mostly in secret, unnoticed, unrecognized, and the best soldiers America has (CBS 60 Minutes Special). I have always considered myself to be a "Quiet Professional". Not only as a Green Beret but as a civilian. However, I don't hide when asked about my service. I may be quiet but I am also proud of everything I accomplished in the Army.

i prefer the term Quiet Patriot

I talk more about my memories both good and bad experiences which I believe has helped me cope more being around my family,co-workers and such.. I do have that warrior inside that will never go away but has yet to be provoked even at the most distressful levels,but I guess I always think to my self that it could be worse :)

In today’s charged political environment I suppose I’ve become suspicious of why certain words are used. “Patriot,” for example, is a word being used by people who have completely opposite conceptions of the behaviors that word sanctions. A lot haven’t served and some of those that have aren’t on the page with me. I’m from an era where politics was rarely talked about among anyone in uniform, on or off base. The expected attitude was to be apolitical. That started to change in the early 1990s. In hindsight, I think the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union, our clear and most threatening enemy, might have removed a unifying force. Things seemed pretty stable in the 80s through the Gulf War. But a bit like the Vietnam years, the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan generated more political consciousness in the services. Before my time, but the late 70s were not a good time especially in the Army as things transitioned to a volunteer force. The fundamental culture of the military went into self-reflection and people were writing a lot about civil-military relations. So, I was steeped in the idea that we don’t swear an oath to an office or a person, but to the ideals and functions laid out in the Constitution. We defend the country, not a politician or political party. Is it still like that?

In any case, in my interactions with civilians I’m happy to talk about military service in a recruiter role. That’s what young people I run into are interested in. Met a young gal working at Five Guys who was going in in a few weeks and I guess I had a hat on and she asked, so we had a pleasant chat. Very few civilian adults who become aware I’m retired ask about my service and I think maybe it’s because they make assumptions about what I think about things. (They’d probably be wrong.)

I expect your friends were joking about the violence and destruction part. Sure, that’s what the military does, it’s what we train and equip to do, but very few of us really kill people. Even in the Army and Marines. (As I facetiously say, soldiers and Marines are the real precision-guided weapons and kill one or a couple dozen at a time; the Navy and Air Force kill hundreds, thousands, and can even erase millions at a time. As an AF navigator, I thought it odd that we called our weapons “precision.”) The killing is a means to an end. I worry when people are cavalier about it. Not always true, but those who joke about it typically haven’t done it and/or haven’t seen their friends hurt and/or haven’t sent people out to do it.

I used to teach and I recommend a book by a Prussian general, Clausewitz, called “On War.” He fought Napoleon. He has a lot to say about the place where the military and politics intersect. It can be a tough read, it’s translated from German, but there are good summaries online.

I can’t remember ever sharing “war stories” with any civilians. And I’m not hanging out at the VFW or other places I’d be around a lot of vets. I did chat with a Vietnam vet Marine at a bar in town a few weeks ago. Henry. Nice guy. But I’ve got it easy. My wife is also a retiree, so if I ever feel the urge I can tell her how great I was.

Circling back to the beginning then, I guess I need to know how you define Patriot. But to answer the question of being vocal or silent, it depends on a lot of things.

"Around the office one day, people divvied up the staff for fun to see who would win in a war against each other. They deemed that the decisive element was me. They told me it was because "You're always talking about violence and destroying things. You're probably the only one that actually knows warfare." Hooray! I'm making a difference!"

What a tedious bore.

There are those who talk the talk. That is you based on your own statements.

Then there are those few who have walked that path and they don't turn it into office gossip.

Both reserved and outspoken.

I was in the service in the mid-sixties I joined right out of high school. All the guys around me were drafted into the Army. My boyfriend was exempt due to his type of work. We married when I got out. Well, the anti-war jerks were protesting and spitting at those who kept calling them "baby killers" etc. We moved to another state and I told no one about my service. I was/am a DAV and proud of my service and only other people who served noticed my "service" mannerisms.
I changed when we moved the second time and those around me were also vets and people that love this country. I am actively supporting and sharing my service now (since 1976) and try to support those that make the service their choice. My granddaughter is in the ARMY a nurse and my grandson is a vet of the Army. So, we need to be appropriate wherever we are and wherever we go. GOD BLESS THE USA.

Owing to differing attitudes about this subject, I’ve concluded that 1) most people don’t believe us when we should ever talk about what we’ve done and are ready to call us liars to our face 2) most of them think we’re crazy aggressive over trained and undisciplined threats and 3) want to get in our grill and challenge us trying to prove their “manhood”. I don’t need any of them.

The only ones I really have a problem with are the politicians that live and die on being veterans; “I served therefore I’m better than you and thus you need you to vote for me”. I can even put up with most “posers” provided they’re not being real scam artists bringing discredit on us. .

I'd suggest adjusting to the local social environment.

Speak softly and carry a big stick.