Discussion for article #236723
Did I miss the part on what I should be saying?
What does a vet want to hear beside thanks, we appreciate you?
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Not only is it a clickbait headline, it fails to answer the clickbait question!
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I realize this is an AP article, but what editor let it get out with, as others have pointed out, what āshouldā be said and how about a link to order the book???
Iāll help: http://www.amazon.com/100-Questions-Answers-About-Veterans/dp/1942011008
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Exactly. What SHOULD one say to a vet? A click bait headline indeed.
Either that or it was a longer piece and crudely edited.
I served decades ago, just before Vietnam heated up, so did not get sent to war. I was a replacement in Korea in an intel unit. So I feel a little awkward when someone says thank you for your service. I didnāt do nuttinā, just wrote reports that, I suspect, nobody read.
When Iām, say, in line at the market with someone wearing a WW2, Korea or Vietnam hat, Iāll sometime say something like āHi soldier,ā or āHi Marineā. I always get a smile.
BTW, the 91 year old brother of a long term friend of mine flew 42 missions in a B25, some over PloeÅti, of āCatch 22āā fame.
He will be part of a group honored at a ceremony in DC on the 70th anniversary of the war.
Is that cool, or what?
A late friend of ours, a retired physician, flew his first mission in a B25, over Germany on his 22nd birthday. I could not find my ass with both hands at age 22. And so it goes.
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Iām a retiree and a 100% disabled vet. (AF. Major 77-94.)
Iām also a teeny old woman, and I donāt advertise.
So āthanks for your serviceā sort of sets off my PTSD.
Makes me feel like a waiter. One getting stiffed on a tip I worked way too hard for.Ā Ā
Itās Smarmy. Condescending. Sterile. Ad slogany. Iāve been a slave of advertising for 50 years, now. I know bullshit.
āIām sorry.ā
That would be the best. Acknowledge I did this in your name. You asked me to. I may not have done it perfectly, or successfully, but by damn, I DID it. And I did it for you. I always was a sucker for noble sacrifice and duty, honor stuff. (Too much Kipling as a child.)
Apologize. I want an apology for what I did at my true loveās order. I want to know that honor is more than a slogan and my well-being is more precious to my officers than their personal god.
I want to know my life was not wasted. My sacrifice mattered.
I gave it gladly. I volunteered in the face of great resistance because it was larger than I was. It was based in tradition and the highest technology first. For most of my career, we held the peace. No war. Pax Americana. As I age, The happier that makes me. The Cold War kept the Peace. People did not die in war. Not on my watch.
Then we were sold out. Pensions frozen, promises broken. Reduction to āmoocher class.ā I gave myself to you, body and soul. And you sacrificed me to a golden Idol.
Yeah. āIām sorryā¦ā It may help keep us out of future wars.
If thatās too much, just a thank you or a head nod.
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āThank you for your serviceā ranks right up there with āSupport Our Troopsā stickers.
You want to support the troops? Stop politicizing support of the troops.
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Memorial Day is Labor Day for soldiers.
We honor your work, and recognize your work is so dedicated that youāre gone not for hours per day but for months per year. Lives on the line. Injury and death expected. Letās all work to make your sacrifices rare and only when absolutely necessary, when thereās no other alternative. I wish I could say thatās been true for the past 40 or more years, but if not true its on our heads, and your work has still mattered and deserves respect. All work does.
Seems to be more about what not to say. Donāt say Happy Memorial Day to a vet unless heās deadā¦
I am confused by, at least, this part of your comment. Military pensions have been adjusted for inflation since I retired in 1994 after 20 in the U.S. Navy. I have never felt like a āmoocher classā nor have I ever met a single person who has accused me of being such. Please clarify.