General Do You Think That People Sometimes Misunderstand A Vet?

[Deleted member 28812]

For example when they tell them they are sorry for him because of his service but he is proud of his service because of all the good things he helped achieve... Or also if they do not umderstand how his military training or experience shaped his understanding of the Seven P's or brotherhood or everything else in life!

By the way, I do not excuse my husbands rudeness with that - just for those who did read my other thread to know. We WILL talk about this and most likely seek parenting classes!

 

[Virtues]

This is something I brought up in group the other day. I think people only understand the military as per what they see on the evening news (no fault of their own, it just is what it is). For example one of my LEAST favorite phrases during the OIF conflict was "I support our troops, but I don't support the government" Now please tell me just how it is that you manage to pull that one off??? When I was deployed I saw an infrastructure built, elections being born, schools being erected, mosks being rebuilt, power plants being safeguarded, food and soccer balls being handed out to children, but you never heard a whisper about that on the evening news. All you heard was... "3 U.S. Marines dead in roadside bombing, and another 4 critically wounded..." That is all the world knows about the war in Iraq. When we returned home there were two types of people: Those that hated us for engaging in world conflict, and those that pitied us. Where were those people who were PROUD of us for what we did?

 

[Sweetpea76]

The military is its own culture that people will never understand unless they're a part of it.

Like the idiots who ask my vet if he's every killed anybody. They're just ignorant.

 

[Sighs]

@Sweetpea76 - I'm always staggered by people who ask that question. FFS!

@Florian7051 - Google a song called Taliban Fighting Man by Fred Smith. Explains it perfectly. People often "feel sorry" for my vet because he "had to go to war". What they don't understand is that they should feel sorry for him because he had to come home.

@Lemontree - in answer to the question in the title - yes. All the time. In almost every way. Hugs!

 

[Virtues]

I didn't want to hijack this thread, but it seems to have died down so I'm going to post this video as I think it is pertinent, as well as it might give life back to this conversation (which I think this is a very important conversation as well as an important question). This video is by Sebastian Junger on why troops miss war. It is a short 13 minute video but I feel it hits the nail right on the head. If you like this video and want to see a little more of what he's talking about, I actually started a thread in "Military & Emergency Services" called Sebastian Junger with another one of his videos. WARNING: The other video (not this one) focuses on those w/o combat trauma, though I think the information is still applicable to those with combat trauma, as I'm a combat trauma sufferer and I got a lot out of the video. Anyways, I hope this video and the other one shed some light on to the subject. Anyone that feels the same your support would be appreciated, anyone with different opinions I would love to hear them.

 

[Deleted member 28812]

I can't watch the video, get an error message and will try again later.