I saw an old post, but with thousands of likes and comments. It was a simple question...can non Combat Veterans call themselves Vets. I laughed in a very non funny way. The Question itself is ludicrous. For all of us were NON Combat until after Basic and AIT. And a hell of lot of Non Combat folks have seen more horror of war than people in Fire Fights. Walter Reed is filled with folks who didn't go to Combat, and yet see the results of it every day. One of my buddies was a Quartermaster during Vietnam. Every day he processed dead Heroes and their small amount of personal belongings. Combat is not the only way to Serve.
Thinking that you and Combat Vet are on the same footing, also absurd. I don't know how many times folks with no children told me how to raise my children. And I don't know how many people who weren't married, gave me marriage advice. Sometimes, they hit the mark. Most times I just smiled and nodded. And that is why I never tell Combat Vets what Combat is like. If you have been there...you know. If you haven't, nobody has a good enough imagination to imagine what it was like. So you shut your mouth.
If you are a Combat Vet and you tell me I didn't Serve or my Service didn't matter...well then you will find out what a lot of College Graduates find out in the Real world. Many Academics and College Graduates think only folks with Degrees are smart. And they are often proved wrong. Maybe they just didn't notice that half the top ten richest people in the Word ...are not College Graduates...but College Drop outs.
And many Combat Vets forget that just because you weren't in Combat, doesn't mean you don't know how to fight. At least at an individual level. I am proud of having served. And nobody will ever take that away from me. Nor should you even try. I know how big that gulf is between Combat and Non Combat, and I sure as heck am not claiming it doesn't exist. But if you hadn't served...you wouldn't have served. Get my point? We all start out as trainees. No exceptions. And then Orders determine your future. I am so glad they came up with the Combat Action Badge...because those folks were there with you when the shit hit the fan.
But yesterday I was watching a Podcast, and I saw an example of Combat Vets yelling at each other over who saw more shit. WTF? That's crazy to me. Any firefight...to me...is more than enough to qualify. And more of them...just gives you experience...not more Street Credit. I have relatives and friends, whose Fathers were in the first or second wave at Normandy....and they don't argue over who was "braver" or a "stud." In fact, most of them didn't talk about it at all, because they felt the real Heroes didn't come home.
So yeah, believe me, I give Combat Veterans a ton of respect. But I have no tolerance for disrespect. I understand when a Vietnam Vet dismisses me immediately when they find out I was in the 25th INF, but not the Wolfhounds in Vietnam. I get it. But I don't take it personal. He wanted someone who had been there , done that...and didn't need words. I get that.
I watched a Podcast once for a Marine who was in Hospice, and he was old. Like fought at Iwo Jima old. And he wanted for his "Make a wish" wish...to have somebody who fought on Iwo Jima to come chat with him. And doggone if they didn't find a fellow Marine. And they talked like only two who shared that hell could talk. And I understood.
But I will never understand anyone who belittles anyone who served in any Branch. Especially without a Draft. So yeah. Combat is a different League...but you were once in the Minors too. Salute.