Do combat arms soldiers look down on fellow combat arms brethren if they have deployed and not been awarded a combat badge/medal/ribbon?

I went in in 1975, and my stint was strictly a non combat military, but there was a ton of Nam Vets in Senior positions, hell even some JR enlisted served deployments to Nam. The only thing we wore then was rank and Marines on our left pocket, and my jump wings, we didn’t even have name tape or badges. That’s it. The only way you’d know if they saw combat was if the were wearing a uniform that wasn’t a BDU, or they mentioned it. You see a SSGT with 5-6 rows of salad you could see his life story on his chest, not easy to get salad in the Marine Corps, at least that was true in 1975. I don’t think anyone ever looked down on anyone doing their job, shitbirds or guys trying to terminally skate had it rough at times.

Nat'l Guard drill and soldiers arrive with newly shaved heads and "I'm Hard Core" attitude - and I reply no you're not, you don't have Jump Wings!

At Drill sometime before Iraq, Three soldiers with their hair at something close to maximum length, but all have Jump Wings, and everybody else with shaved heads thinking they're high speed.

Unless you were in a unit that never crossed the line into the conflict area then you should at least have a over seas medal and a campaign medal.

what I hear you asking is, do I, CIB holder, feel that support guys are worthy of my respect. you may rest assured that you are and in fact you need to also think kindly of the poor grunts, they don't always know how much work it takes to rearm the gunships, locate and load ammo out on slicks, and then still take fire running resupply and medical. so, yeah, we love you. besides they deliver those badges in a big basket that they fly in and drop out side of a huey. depending on the war zone, I guess.

I admire and respect all awards, but what impresses me the most are good leaders, leaders who motivate others to bring out their best to serve our country.

Honestly and like it or not, you will be judged by tabs on your shoulder and badges on your chest

I was in Army active service from 1975 -77 then 3 years in the Montana Army national Guard and the Nevada Army National Guard for another 3 years, Active duty I was a 17B20 Field Artillery & Ground Surveillance Radar Operator and in the Guard I decided I wanted to drive a tank so went into Armor. never deployed, never even went outside US borders. I consider myself one of the "lucky ones". I have ALWAYS wondered how I would've reacted to being deployed into a combat zone, I'd like to think that I would've just fallen back on my training and kept my eyes and ears open, I'll never know for sure, I do feel terrible for the men and women that come home dead or wounded and maimed. I support them in every way that I can through monthly donations to organizations like VFW and Wounded Warrior. can't say that I worry about what a combat Veteran may think about someone like me that was never deployed but those that HAVE deployed have my FULL support.

Those that do show the mark of immaturity. Period. Without those who are not combat oriented, the rest of us would not be able to out jobs IN combat.. And people that look down on others like this, seem to forget that important fact.

As far as I am concerned, someone looks down on another and I see it, will get a dress down from me right there. I don't put up with that shit.

I was prior service Navy when I joined the Army. My combat service in the navy was shown by me being awarded the Combat Action Ribbon. This award was worn along side my other ribbons. I also was awarded the Vietnam Service ribbon and wore one deployment stripe on my left uniform sleeve to show the time I spent deployed to Vietnam. No one ever looked side ways at me or questioned my combat service. I did have one experience during a uniform inspection that was somewhat funny. While standing in ranks the XO of the company were checking me out. The XO looked me over and moved on to the next man. The 1st Sgt then started o look me over. He then said, “Jones, I see you have a Vietnam service ribbon, why don’t you have a patch for the unit you served with in Vietnam on you left sleeve.” The XO then spoke up and said, “ Top, personnel that served in the Navy in Vietnam do not have a unit patch to put on their sleeve.” The 1st Sgt got real red in the face from being embarrassed and just nodded his head. I am guessing the XO knew more about the navy than the 1st Sgt. I might also note NO ONE asked me about my missing unit patch again while I was being inspected.

I have to admit that when I see a senior NCO or officer and I don't see at least a SSIFWTS (combat patch) I do have questions about their service. But then again as a reserve Army 1SG I have had Soldiers who had multiple tours who for whatever reason did not get a CAB or CIB. They were / are very good Soldiers who I have great trust in. I also have first hand experience with a senior NCO who had a rare medical MOS and his CoC would not let him deploy. JM, Ranger tab, EIB while on active duty but changed his MOS for the training and civilian job skill set. He was tore up they wouldn't let him deploy and came to me monthly asking for help.
At the end of the day I think it's like the old saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover."