Posted on Sep 7, 2021
What Things Were Difficult to Communicate to Family and Friends About Your Military Service? Login & Share to Win!
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Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 423
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Congratulations to Sgt John F Ferguson, 1LT (Join to see), SPC David Johnson, PFC Tiffany Sparks, and MAJ John Adams! You've all won a $100 Amazon gift card! An e-gift card will be sent to the email address associated with your RallyPoint account.
Thanks to all who participated by logging in and sharing!
Thanks to all who participated by logging in and sharing!
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SPC Martin Mahan
Congrats to all of you! Makes my heart feel good to see my brothers and sisters in arms doing good.
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The camaraderie. The feeling of belonging. The feeling that comes with serving your country. These are seldom completely understood by friends and family unless they served.
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SSG Rick Miller
SPC Jesse Bowman - You're an idiot. No, I'm not gay, not that it makes any difference whatsoever. What I am is a career soldier, a combat vet who actually got shot at, not one who stayed his sorry ass on the FOB. Too bad military life was such a burden for you, but then I get the distinct impression that you were a problem child from day one. How long was it before you got chaptered out?
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CPO Emmett (Bud) Carpenter
SPC Jesse Bowman - until you have walked in our shoes you have no idea what your talking about. US Navy Vietnam veteran
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Mainly about the type of training that I was going through, and why I had to do it RallyPoint News .
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It was most difficult to communicate the death that surround me in Vietnam. Unless you were physically there it is hard to explain.
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A1C Michelle Pagan
SPC Jesse Bowman - no, I can not. No one can that has not been there. I was not and never have asked to either.
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LTC (Join to see)
SPC Jesse Bowman - Remember Specialist, you can imagine anything and change it in your mind, but it isn't reality of actually being there and hearing the sounds, smelling the stench of death. It wasn't a video game, it was real. As a Combat Medic, I was in the shit 24/7 for 18 months. And hit with shrapnel was not a lot of fun for me. But I followed the orders of those appointed over me and, yes, I sometimes questioned why, but I did my duty which I freely took on. Until you walk a mile in a Vietnam Veterans shoes you will never know.
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How difficult it was being away from my young children for so many years, and how difficult it makes life now that I'm home. Still feel like a stranger, and my children still don't know me.
Trying to raise my own children, coming home after 6 months or more, I never really felt like their father no matter how hard I tried.
"You were never there for us!". To relate to them how it was just not possible, and I was making a life for them without being there, just isn't possible sometimes.
Trying to raise my own children, coming home after 6 months or more, I never really felt like their father no matter how hard I tried.
"You were never there for us!". To relate to them how it was just not possible, and I was making a life for them without being there, just isn't possible sometimes.
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Relating the camaraderie to a non military person and family. Still not able to relate 100% with non military people.
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Cpl Raymond Wiltshire
Unless they served, they just don't understand. And there is no real way to explain it. - Semper Fi
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That the military life is not simple or routine. There are a plethora of emotions that are unique to our calling. The sense that your life is in the hands of another and you yourself are the caretaker of others lives is rarely found outside our service. I was just a corpsman, no hero, frightened too often. But I walked with heroes, real heroes.
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LTC (Join to see)
I agree with PO2 MacNeill and PO2 Lincoln. There is no such thing as JUST a Corpsman. In my case it was Medic. We are trained to do things that most civilians would cringe at and see more trauma and diseases than most civilians could ever imaging. All the Corpsmen and Medics were and are the backbone and the first-line medical personnel doing the most and best work. You, Sir, are one of the many Unsung Heroes. I salute you.
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For me it was difficult to explain my hyperactivity especially at night, and the Fourth of July. I came home two weeks Feb. 1970, on burial detail, then back to Pleiku. Relatives were looking at my camouflaged fatigues like I was a freak. I was already deaf from shooting too much. Difficult time for non-military folks understanding SOPs.
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A1C Michelle Pagan
OMG There were lots of protesters regarding Vietnam. It's extraordinary: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_protests_against_the_Vietnam_War
From what I have been able to ascertain, the norm was to be for or against and not much in-between. Not only did vets have to deal with being a part of Vietnam but also the backlash of Vietnam.
From what I have been able to ascertain, the norm was to be for or against and not much in-between. Not only did vets have to deal with being a part of Vietnam but also the backlash of Vietnam.
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CPT William Pearson
A1C Michelle Pagan - Thanks, it was,is still a tough time as I speak Vietnamese and Montagnard languages and they were my friends. It was a difficult time to be a combat soldier. Never wore my uniform again.
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LTC (Join to see)
Captain, I know what you are relating. I went through a similar situation and people that I grew up with thought I was some sort of an animal. They just didn't get it.
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Sgt Dave VonAllmen
CPT William Pearson - Not just a combat soldier, anybody in uniform passing through the airport, protesters didn't have a clue who was a combat soldier or not they called them all baby killer's and spit on them and threw things at them. It was just a very difficult time to be in the military, something that I think we are still are dealing with.
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It was very difficult for me to explain the need for deployments or unaccompanied tours. I tried to explain by speaking with them about the loneliness I felt during my absences. I failed to ask my spouse and children how they felt. With that said, it really made it sound like it was all about me and they did not matter. Took me too long to understand that they were a great part of my career and just like me soldiers without them and their support I was lost and without a happy life as a career soldier and as a husband and father.
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GySgt Edward Reagle
Well stated just another thing to explain to people but it does need explaining I am with you on that one SGM Sanderson.
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