I was on another message board discussing some other subjects when I ran into another person there who seems to hold the opinion that he is better than any other vet who served in the military but did not serve in combat. I've seen that attitude before a few times, but rarely do the people who feel that way come right out and say it. Anybody else agree with that?
I told the guy that I consider his statement an insult to every person who has worn the uniform during peacetime.
I'm just glad I didn't hear much of that kind of talk during the 15 years I served.

being in the Army and at a very large military post, I will tell you that non-combat vets are sized up within the first 5 seconds of a conversation and have no credibility if they haven't deployed. This goes for basically, CPTs and above. I am not saying I am better, but I will tell you what, street credibility for deployed combat officers is huge.

The non combat people are always in the Majority, but with out them the fighting man could not operate.

Rarely JOE never deployed that sets the standard for the ones coming after to reach and surpass.

Should everyone that has served be shown respect, ofcourse.
Do I read a new guy I meet and grade his what TI called "street cred", ofcourse I do.

Some people go a whole career in the military without getting into a fight, some people volunteer to go to every fight that pops up while they are in.
Willingness to deploy are individual and will always be a part of the perception people have of you in the military, nothing wrong with that.
Everyone who has picked up a weapon and stood a post does however deserve respect in my book.

//KJ.

Originally Posted by FourDeuce

I was on another message board discussing some other subjects when I ran into another person there who seems to hold the opinion that he is better than any other vet who served in the military but did not serve in combat. I've seen that attitude before a few times, but rarely do the people who feel that way come right out and say it. Anybody else agree with that?
I told the guy that I consider his statement an insult to every person who has worn the uniform during peacetime.
I'm just glad I didn't hear much of that kind of talk during the 15 years I served.

EVERY PERSON WHO SERVED A HITCH IN THE MILITARY DESERVES RESPECT .....

- HOWEVER -

Those who have served in a combat zone deserve a respect above and beyond those who have not. I am NOT advocating you disrespect a non-combat soldier ... what I AM saying, is the combatant has EARNED a respect that the non-combatabt has NOT easrned.

No non-combatant has ever had a best friend die in his/her arms .. no non-combatant has ever heard the sound of enemy bullets zinging around his/her head and known that enemy was trying to kill you as hard as you were trying to kill them. The non-combatant has never been wounded and ended up shedding their blood.

Get the picture??? Unless you were there, you can NEVER understand how we feel .. you will NEVER know the connection that combatants have with one asnother.

WHILE I WILL ALWAYS RESPECT THOSE WHO NEVER SERVED IN COMBAT, I WILL ALWAYS RESERVE MY GREATEST RESPECT FOR MY FELLOW WARIORS WHO HAVE HEARD THE SOUND OF GUNFIRE .. THEY ARE THE FRIENDS OF MY CHILHOOD WHO SERVED IN EVERY CORNER OF THE WORLD, THAT MY FELLOW CITIZENS WOULDN'T HAVE TO.

If some people have a problem with that ... it is their problem .. NOT mine. For info .. Vietnam was a scary place for a young man just turned 18. Of a 13 man squad, there are only 2 of us still alive. Many of my childhood friends are STILL suffering from PTSD ... are still off the map, living on the streets of a country that forgot them. (Whoa ... I didn't mean to get on my soapbox).

Suffice it to say that combatants have earned a respect that much of the world has chosen to not give them and leave it at that.

"Served in a combat zone." For many, in fact, a great majority, that includes sitting on a FOB, getting coffee from the Green Bean maybe a taco from Taco Bell and heading back to their CHU to watch a little TV. Never actually experiencing "combat" besides the occasional IDF.

Frankly, unless they are infantry or one of my peers (including those weird foreign types like KJ,) I just figure they did their rotation like everyone else and came home sporting their OIF/OEF ribbons, "combat" awards and patches. And unless they step out of their lane, I don't give them any less respect than I do everyone else. Mostly because I don't care, but also because I figure we all have a role. Stay out of mine, I'll stay out of yours.

PJ, It sounds like you have been to KAF.

I have respect for all who choose to wear a uniform regardless of whether they have one or the other function. I feel a mutual respect with those of us who have been in combat. I also have the greatest respect for the medical personnel who may never come close to combat.

When said; I will say that a soldier who has been in a fight has some skills that you can not learn otherwise, and if you use people with this special competence rather than denigrate them then it's really something that can lift the level of a unit.

"Some people go a whole career in the military without getting into a fight, some people volunteer to go to every fight that pops up while they are in."

I was at Fort Benning, Georgia when Desert Storm(part 1) started. Most of the people there did not deploy, but within a few weeks I requested reassignment to one of the few units from Benning that deployed. Got turned down, but just volunteering won't always get you there, either.

Where does it all end though?

What do you call "combat"?
Making up pay slips in the office in the rear of a war zone,
servicing the equipment that keeps men safe and in the field,
being subjected to random occasional enemy fire,
patrolling,
being engaged in the exchange of fire?

I gave up going to Vietnam Veteran's get togethers after about the first two or three meetings, because of this crap. I was not personally targeted, but I was disgusted with those who made statements belittling the service of "Pogos" (Personnel On Garrison Operations) and those other than "Grunts".

I made myself decidedly unpopular when I suggested that none of the above persons slung too much **** about Pogos when the choppers arrived to take them back inside the wire, or to deliver a hot meal or mail etc. No doubt my service was also called into disrepute when I departed, but true to their type not much was said to my face.

So, it just goes to show that being a Combat veteran doesn't make some people worthy of any special respect. After all is said and done 99% of us were only there because we were obeying orders.

Yes,... there were some who would have gladly volunteered, many did. But just being a "Combat Vet" is doesn't necessarily make you a better man or worthy of particular respect.

I tried to volunteer for duty in Iraq but the transfer to a unit in the rotation cycle didn't work out.
So it's not that I didn't want to go, it just didn't work out for me.