'You either went to war or you didn't' — How deployments divide the vet community

I completely understand the authors feelings, and in no way wish to invalidate them. I have heard similar stories many times - and felt similar feelings each and every time I was on Rear-D. In September of 2001, I was an Infantry Squad leader in the 10th Mountain Division. I watched as my unit, *my* troops, the ones I had trained with, the ones I had led, went off to war without me, because I had a class seat in November - and the bastards at HRC wouldn't let me cancel.

I got my chance - I deployed thrice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan. Even doing a full 20 and retiring, I still have more combat stripes than service stripes. And even after that, as I was on Rear-D for my unit's deployment shortly before I retired, I still felt a bit of what the author is talking about. I understand his thoughts and feelings, they are real, and they are legitimate.

BUT....

In my experience, those thoughts and feelings are almost entirely self-imposed. Those of us "in the club" very rarely look down on those who are "not in the club." As the author points out at the beginning, it is almost entirely luck of the draw. Being in the right place (or wrong place, depending on how you look at it) at the right time. We know that - for the most part - those that did not deploy were READY TO if and when they were called upon.

If you are in the "not in the club" group, please know that I understand how you feel. But please also understand that most of us who *are* "in the club" hold absolutely nothing against you.

I really don’t care how others view me, I sat down what I was doing and went when called to active duty. I filled a need ithe military. When people look at their ideal and realty things fen don’t mesh. I think about this guy, Kifer. He wanted to go ver seas and fight in WW II. Instead he spent WWII teaching sailors how to survive when their ship sank. I am sure there are many sailors who returned home alive who are greatful to him! I am sure there are many families who are greatful for the consideration they were shown by the Benjamin Able who penned the article. Another story along the same lines is “ who packed your parachute.” . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolph_Kiefer

Yeah you joined the military but you didn't complete basic.
Yeah you completed basic but you weren't infantry
Yeah you were infantry but you didn't deploy
Yeah you deployed but you were never in combat
Yeah you were in combat but you weren't in REAL combat.

I've always found it weird that there are vets (and even active duty) who would rather separate themselves then find common ground. I assume these are those people who haven't done much else with their lives outside of the military because thats really the only place it really matters