Has anyone ever been spit on or threatened by a civilian right after returning from OIF/OEF?

Thank you 1LT Doyle. That means so much to any vet and I appreciate it.

That's shitty. I would have felt a lot worse if I was told not to wear my uniform because a bunch of hippies and other F's were protesting. Good for you. I hope you knocked his teeth out. I'm sorry that happened to you.

All you did was your duty as a Soldier Keith. Thank you for your devoted service to our country. I just wish more people in todays world saw it the way that we do. Back in your time many men didn't have the choice to be a Soldier or not because of the draft. But even still you went and fought the fight because you were fighting for our freedom and way of life. Which so many Americans take for granted today.. Today we have people protesting in the streets and walking on our American Flag and nobody does anything about it! The problem that we as Americans will always face is that there are always going to be people that take advantage of the freedoms that they have, because they have never seen how different the world could actually be- and they never will until they see it through a Soldiers eyes.

Thank you SSG (Join to see) l for those kind remarks. We're the ones who have to take care of, including all branches, and all the new kids on the block. The new kids may not want our help, but it's our obligation to ask them. They are like us when we got back from combat. That 1000 yard stare. And don't have a clue as to what is next
Some don't trust anyone. I don't know what that is about.

Haha, only a Marine would have the tact and balls to tell a civilian woman to shut the fuck up and then get cheered for it, lol.

"You magnificent bastard" ~Gen. Patton

I was not, but I have told many chairborne rangers to shut the fuck up. At the beginning of OIF was worse, in Mass it can be as bad as Berkley CA, Specially in Cambridge.

I am sure it was a lot more prevalent during the Vietnam era but actually has happened to me at Cat West out of all places by another patron and certain parts of Clarksville people just hate the Military and if they know you're still active they will try to pick fights knowing you can get into a lot of trouble.

Germany in 1969 was much a mixed bag. Lots of interesting and friendly people, and some others who apparently weren't too happy with the outcome of WWII. The unreconstructed Nazi who bellowed imprecations about GIs coming and stealing all the women (he assumed my wife was German) when we got off our bicycles for a drink stop.

Then there was the meal we took at a Gaststätte in the Gallusviertel of Frankfurt. There were no individual tables; everyone sat at one of the large communal dining tables. My haircut and the cut of my clothing identified me immediately as One Of Those People.

A portion of our fellow diners began discussing me and those like me. They would naturally assume that, as a typical American GI, I wouldn't have a clue about their remarks.

I enjoyed watching what happened after I ordered in German, and then struck up a conversation with someone nearby.

Others were more polite. We were shopping for a dress for my wife (not a German-speaker) one afternoon, and I was the intermediary with the sales person, who probably had English but chose not to speak it.

My accent is a bit strange, and I generally do not sound American at all. But I obviously wasn't a German of a sort he had ever heard, and there was this military haircut. I could see indecision on his part about what I was; eventually he erred on the side of politeness and asked about how the weather had been in the UK.

My haircut at that time gave me away as well and now I keep it all shaved; However, now I get people who think I am a skinhead. I have learned to blend in with the crowd and I don't speak up about service unless asked or on the subject.

I can understand how Germans might have been still mad about WWII even those it was decades later as they had to rebuild and rebuild and keep on rebuilding all that was destroyed and I saw that in Iraq how short lived the joy of liberation was and how most were mad about the destruction and the mayhem going on.

I only wonder how long it will take before the scars of this last war fade away.