How do I deal with those who question the value of my service just because I never deployed?

PO1 Douglas Decherd - PO1 Decherd, My sister was a hippy and had her goofy hippy friends over whenever my mom went out of town. They'd get me insanely drunk when I was 10, just so I would pass out and leave them alone. I also had two uncles in the Army, one in Nam and one in Germany at the same time. As a boy I would ask myself, who do I want to emulate, these scum or my uncles. I was too young to join to go to 'Nam, but always wanted to, just as an EFF You to her and her friends. So I have ALWAYS thanked them. My drill Sgts, my first Platoon Sgt. and Sqd Leaders were in 'Nam. I have always said thank you to Viet Nam Vets. My question to you is, when I do it, especially now days, I do not say anything about myself ever having served, or being a careerist, because I don't want to make it about myself, I want it to be about them. Should I tell them that I served so that they know that I have true respect for what they did? Or should I drive on the way I've done it and not say anything about my service. My heart's in the right place, but again, it's not about me, it's sincerely about them, because I know, respect and appreciate what they did. Thank you PO1, AND anybody else who may want to add to this.

SFC Howard Holmes - The Viet Nam war and the civil rights movement tore this country apart. Numerous cities were on fire. The hippie movement was too high on drugs to be anything other than a nescience to the emergency rooms. When I talk to vets I tell them why I say "Welcome Home". The Viet Nam vets are puzzled at first until I remind them that our country never had the intelligence to welcome them hone. We are an all volunteer military force. The draft was abolished before I volunteered. My draft number was high. My Viet Nam vet frat brothers recommended that I did not enlist. I heard their first hand stories of hand to hand combat. Sgt. John Rambo, USMC was hand to hand in Hue during the TET offensive. George Patrick Kelly was a door gunner on a Huey chopper that was shot down. A corpsman saved his life. I enlisted anyways.
Tell all of the vets that you also served. They already know that you volunteered. The military is a small subset of the population of the United States. Any vet needs to know that they did not serve alone. There are others that followed in their footsteps. Where you serve is not your choice. Every position has to be justified. The Marines guarding the gates of the Naval base are the front line of those defending the Navy ships in the harbor. They are every bid as important as the Admirals and the fleet they are guarding.
The military is a brotherhood of men and women that made a choice to sign a contract to defend the constitution of the United States from all enemies, foreign and domestic. We all want to know that our fallen comrades did not die in vain. The visible and invisible wounds are a badge of honor. We stood for something worth defending.
The hippies and clueless college students supporting Palestinians in Gaza have never seen the devastation left behind from the terrorists wanting to destroy Israel. They have never seen the devastation of a Russian naval base. Communism is a cancer on the planet. Those incarcerated under its rule want out. Many escaped from the Iron curtain that Stalin imposed after WW2. They were willing to do anything to escape the tyranny of the communists.
You enlisted, you stood your watches. Tell the vets that you were also holding the line against stupidity.

Douglas Decherd, EM1 SS, EWS.

Yes, the Hippie movement was pushed really hard by the KGB, as was the Peace Movement and the Anti-American movements that have taken foothold in the colleges. Their operations are impressive and the mind numbing affects of the LSD, and other types of ACID really added to that. After I retired, I went to school for my M.A., and after the first semester of the program, the professors really walked a fine line on some of the propaganda, because I would immediately challenge them. I didn't do it by getting angry, or being boisterous, I would formulate reasonable questions based on fact and common sense and would challenge them. Actually, some of them really enjoyed the challenge, thought they typically lost, I would let them win minor skirmishes, but full attack on major issues. I appreciate your candor, your service, and the time you took in your response, I greatly appreciate it. You may want to watch a video on You Tube called, "More Deadly Than War," it is a presentation by a man named G. Edward Griffin, and he did it in 1966, yes, 1966, but there is so much of it going on TODAY. It's how Communists and Marxists planned on their takeover of the U.S. He uses the American Marxist Manifesto that was printed in like 1960, and includes their tactics that needed to be implemented over a lengthy period of time. It is truly jaw-dropping. I hope you enjoy, and again, thank you, and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

The sad part is that the guy that ran that program on the Russian side in the 80's is now in charge of Russia and we have some politicians (on all sides of all our fences) who just don't get that he wanted our destruction (Marxist or not) then and still wants it now. The ammo the Russians are dispensing in the Ukraine is meant for us and our allies and they have made it very clear it is. The Ukrainians are just currently taking it for us. At this point, we can only hope that the brief breath of (albeit still somewhat limited) freedom the Russians enjoyed after the collapse of the Soviet Union combined with the incredible repression currently are enough to create enough discontent over time to collapse their current dictatorship. Might not be in time to prevent the full annexation of the Ukraine and whatever is caused thereafter by what that victory will do to the fragile psyche of the current Russian leadership.

You gave those years to our nation and served where the brass wanted/needed you. That's enough. During the Vietnam Era the Navy wanted me in boot camp, so I processed recruit paperwork for 159 to 300 new sailors a day for five days a week. Shore duty!
After the war a few years on an old destroyer (DD-880) at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

My brother,
You dropped the mic on that one.

No one could say it better Sgt Jones!!

MSgt Mark Prechtl - Thank you for your service at that dark period Sgt. Jones, I truly appreciate it from my heart. I don't know, having never been a Marine, if I'm allowed to give you a Semper Fi, so Semper Fi, and if you dress me down, I will know better.

I don't remember well anymore but think it was 6 to 1, First off if you took the Oath, did your best, did your assigned job, You did all that you needed to do, Thank You, they can go to hell. Now, if I remember right in my day it was about 6 to 1, might be higher now, it took about 6 support Soldiers for every Troop in the field. Also Important to have back up Replacements, Reinforcements and Reserves.

I remember getting shit because I was and remain a "dirty wog". Even my wife is a shellback.
It's not MY fault that my 5 deployments never took me south of the Equator. I feel that the same principle applies to Combat vs. Non Combat veterans.
As far as those that gamed the system to avoid being deployed? Full agreement there. Had one cook on my second ship that decided to break his leg the morning we were due to leave on deployment. F that dude. He dropped a tool box on his leg at 0300 to self inflict the injury that he knew would remove him from the ship. Let's just say that even his friends dimed him out.

Maj James Tippins - Sir, if you can go up ad read my story concerning this, it is a HORRIBLE experience. I did a career and didn't go, and I despise that, and I truly feel inadequate, undeserving and unworthy. If you read my comments farther up, you'll see I volunteered to go, but even though there is solid justification in the needs of the service, it does NOT make it any better. I don't even talk to other veterans about being in, especially if they served boots on the ground, and there's nothing anybody can say to make me feel any better about it. I could probably whine to the V.A. and claim depression about it, but that would probably make it even worse if they awarded me some VA rating for it. It's a horrible thing to live with.

In the military, you go where you're sent and you do what you're told. 'Nuff said to anybody who yaps at you.