Combat vets how do you feel toward non-combat vets?

I am not a combat vet. My unit wasnt chosen to go in Just Cause because our COHORT was only at Ord a MONTH before Just Cause kicked off. Spent DS/DS in the Sinai. Volunteered for the 4th aviation brigade when they were heading to Somalia. Was denied as important personnel to my Infantry unit as a Brad driver. Dont even know if the unit went to Somalia. Bosnia Kosovo missions happened while I was on recruiting duty. Went through SFAS and didnt make it. Had a career ending heart attack in 02 just prior to deploying to Kuwaut to start prepping for OIF 1. Am not happy I didn't get to go while my brothers did. It is What It is and I deal with it. I am proud of my service. I am proud of my brothers. I was as prepared as could be to go over and do what I had to. What I have a hard time dealing with is my body betraying me. Bright spot I guess is it betraying me before bullets IEDS and and all the rest of the shit hit the fan.

With 24 years active service, I was able to see combat and peacetime service. WHY would any "combat" veteran look askance at a non-combat veteran? I can see no good reason, as EVERYONE of us had a job to do in KEEPING the peace or in SECURING the peace.

I love all these politically correct answers being given. Yes, there is animosity from combat vets to non-combats vets, even if people won't say it in a public forum, or out loud while they are still in. Can't pretend it doesn't exist because it hurts your feelings.

Now, with that said, why does it exist? Mostly, I believe because there is always a handful of service members who did everything within their power to get out of deploying, and that small group tainted everyone in it, regardless of why they as individuals didn't deploy. Sad, but true.

I served from 1992-2003 when I RCPd. The last unit I was in deployed to Iraq less than a year after I left, thanks to FB I still in touch with my friends that I served with, but I find it hard to talk to them as I feel guilty for not going with them.

There was a job to be done and you did it You have a right to be proud!

I deployed with a guy who, at 33 days in country, faked a knee injury in order to get sent home. Since he had been over longer than 30 days, he got to wear his deployment patch, and he would talk down to any slick sleeve he could find. He was a PV2 (had gotten an article 15 prior to deployment) and went as far as to tell a specialist without a deployment patch that his deployment patch meant he had seniority over that E4. Suffice it to say the acting 1SG on rear-D tore that kid a new asshole that day. Before we were even back from Afghanistan, this kid had gotten a DUI and had been kicked out, and I'd be willing to bet he went home and now talks to anyone who will listen (and several who won't) about the fact that he's a 'combat veteran' and he sacrificed so much for 'the very freedoms you enjoy', etc.
Now if that guy is somehow 'more of a veteran' than the person who made the original post here, the guy who stayed back to take care of his wife who had MS, and then cancer, then I'll eat my shoe. At the end of the day, it's the man (or woman) that makes the patch, not the other way around.

I salute you for this post, MSG. I have many of the same feelings. When I joined the National Guard in 1972 you know the names and attitude that went with that. First meeting were full of SM at the end of their 6 year enlistment. In those days a person had to chase rank. Lots of Korean War Vets filling Senior NCO slots. Switched to Reserve and was in several units. Never disrespected by a combat vet, but just active duty vets that I outranked and they felt they had more time on KP than I had in the Army. I didn't become a Vet until 1992 at the end of Desert Storm. Mobilized for a task force to receive, repair, and re-issue returning equipment at Ft McCoy, WI. Still hard to tell people I'm retired Army. My Reserve was nothing like the new Reserve. Prayers for your wife and family. Hope things are good.

Vietnam, '69-'70. No sweat, you didn't miss a thing.

Service is service and comes in all shapes and sizes. There is something amazing about serving one's nations regardless of how that service is carried out. I personally do not have any animosity towards non-combat veterans and I usually tell them to count themselves as fortunate that they did not have to deal with a lot of the bad things that combat vets deal with. The only time I get indignant is when someone tries to misrepresent their service, other than that the normal words I use to describe non-combat vets are brother and sister same as the combat vets I know. You raised your hand, and they didn't call you, but at least you raised your hand.

A veteran is a veteran regardless. You served both your country and your family honorably.

Anyone who tries to take away your pride in your service isn't worth talking to.