It seems that some veterans want to create an impression that a veteran is a veteran is a veteran. Then there are guys like me who think combat arms veterans, in particular, have paid one hell of a lot more dues than the majority of vets, especially those we call rear echelon mother fuckers (REMF).
Let us take two guys, one is 18 years old and the other one is 23 with a college degree. The 18 year old enlists in the active duty Marines and does 30 years as a grunt, rising to the rank of Sergeant Major before being put out to pasture with a pension that is not worth spit.
The other guy joins the Navy reserve as some sort of computer geek with the intention of milking the tax payers for all he’s worth; but at the same time and throughout his career, he takes every precaution to ensure that the greatest risk he will ever face are paper cuts and swear words.
Then America gets attacked on 9/11 and Congress, in order to retain mid-level officers and enlisted personnel, sweetens the (retention) pot with something called the Post 9/11 GI Bill. The problem now for our Go Navy beat Army REMF is that he has to do 90 days in OIF (Iraq) and/ or OEF (Afghanistan) theatre of operations in order to get this new, improved and quite lovely GI Bill which allows him to pass that 4 year free ride on to his dependents.
Now imagine that his lust to snag that GI Bill and pass it down to his kids is so intense that he breaks that vow to self, and starts shopping around for a cushy yet super-safe ‘in theater’ gig to qualify to claim his prize. A little problem arises for our future war hero/ vet in that there are no 90 day billets available that are completely risk free or our Reserve/ National Guard officer; but he is tenacious in pursuit of his goal and finally lands a 45 day volunteer gig inside fortress America in Kabhul, Herat, Mazar or any place where he his wonderfulness will be protected by grunts and he can buy good quality European wines and such at the German PX 24/7/11.
Iraq was always too dangerous, even inside Baghdad’s green zone the bad guys could always reach out and touch you no matter how cushy your assignment, but Afghanistan was not. Actually anywhere inside the Green Zone in Kabul was safer than your mother’s womb. This fact of course would make OEF/ Afghanistan the only so-called war zone in which our reluctant warrior/ hero/ soon to be VFW/ vet would be at all interested in. Winning that 4-year free ride on the backs of the US taxpayers ‘scholarship’ for his son or daughter would be less dangerous than almost any neighborhood within the continental US. Plus the tax-free because you know, war zone, officers salary combined with danger pay and other perks would be a nice boost in his annual income so once again we find our Reservist/ Nat-Guard vet guy practically ecstatic when he manages to find and ‘volunteer’ for his second pump to Afghanistan and the 90-day golden ring is grabbed.
If you think it could not happen, I will gladly introduce you to an Army Major, also a reservist, who proudly announced that he volunteered for some chickenshit assignment in Djibouti (designated as part of OIF theater of Ops) for 6 months because it got him the Post 9/11 GI Bill which he promptly signed over to one of his sons. There were also tax breaks and, in his case, a higher salary than he was making in his civilian job. For our Army Reservist dude, the war in Iraq was a Win-Win-Win with the taxpayers being the suckers as usual.
Still believe that all ‘combat/ war’ veterans are created equal?
The Pareto Principle is also alive and well within the bowels of your vaunted Department of Defense where fewer than 20% are trigger pullers and the other 80% are stealing both oxygen and tax dollars.
With love,
LtCol Simon MacTemplar
USMC/Ret.
ST UnWoke! 
Hi there friends, pleasant post and pleasant arguments commented at this place, I am
in fact enjoying by these.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi colleagues, how is all, and what you wish
for to say concerning this article, in my view its genuinely awesome in support of me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Remarkable! Its really remarkable article, I
have got much clear idea regarding from this piece of writing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi there, I enjoy reading through your post.
I like to write a little comment to support you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my goodness! Amazing article dude! Thank you so much, However I am encountering issues with your RSS.
I don’t understand why I am unable to subscribe to it. Is there anyone else having similar RSS issues?
Anybody who knows the answer will you kindly respond?
Thanks!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Simply ‘Follow’ the site, dude. Should be easy enough I would think.
LikeLike
Hello my family member! I wish to say that this article is awesome, nice written and come with
approximately all vital infos. I’d like to look more posts like this .
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am really grateful to the owner of this web site who has shared this great piece of writing at here.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I absolutely love your site.. Great colors & theme.
Did you develop this web site yourself? Please reply back as I’m hoping to
create my own personal website and would like to know where you got this from or just what the theme is called.
Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Highly energetic blog, I liked that bit. Will there be a part 2?
Follow me and d’Ettes and find out, dude.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice post. I learn something totally new and challenging on websites I stumbleupon every day.
It’s always exciting to read through articles from other authors and practice
something from other websites.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest
but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site
to come back in the future. Many thanks
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon on a daily basis.
It will always be useful to read through content from other writers and practice
something from their sites.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We absolutely love your blog and find nearly all
of your post’s to be just what I’m looking for.
Would you offer guest writers to write content to suit your needs?
I wouldn’t mind creating a post or elaborating on a few of the subjects you write
concerning here. Again, awesome web log!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jasmine, I love your idea. One thousand times yes!
Are you following ST Unleased! yet?
LikeLike
Somebody necessarily assist to make severely articles I might state.
This is the very first time I frequented your web page and thus far?
I surprised with the analysis you made to create this particular publish incredible.
Excellent process!
LikeLike
I would like to thank you for the efforts you have
put in penning this blog. I am hoping to see the same high-grade blog posts by you
later on as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my very own site now 😉
LikeLike
Thank you for some other informative web site.
Where else could I get that kind of information written in such a
perfect approach? I’ve a challenge that I am simply
now working on, and I’ve been at the look out for such info.
LikeLike
Hi there, after reading this amazing article i am too
delighted to share my familiarity here with friends.
LikeLike
What’s up colleagues, fastidious article and pleasant arguments commented here, I am truly enjoying by these.
LikeLike
I wanted to thank you for this very good read!! I definitely enjoyed every bit
of it. I have got you saved as a favorite to look at new things you post…
LikeLike
Awesome blog you have here but I was wondering if you knew of any community forums that cover the same
topics discussed here? I’d really love to be a part of online community where I
can get responses from other knowledgeable individuals that share the same interest.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Many thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it is right here. Follow us and join my discussions in real-time with the ‘Ettes. They don’t bite (too hard).
LikeLike
Excellent post! We are linking to this particularly great article on our site.
Keep up the good writing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Awesome post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent, what a webpage it is! This weblog provides useful data to us,
keep it up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this site.
It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s
challenging to get that “perfect balance” between usability and visual appeal.
I must say you have done a excellent job
with this. In addition, the blog loads extremely fast for
me on Safari. Exceptional Blog!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Appreciating the persistence you put into your website and in depth information you provide.
It’s good to come across a blog every once in a while
that isn’t the same unwanted rehashed information. Great
read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to my Google account.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excellent write-up. I definitely appreciate this website.
Keep it up!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What’s up to all, how is the whole thing, I think
every one is getting more from this web site, and your views are
nice for new visitors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
First off I want to say wonderful blog! I had a quick question that I’d
like to ask if you do not mind. I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your thoughts before writing.
I’ve had a hard time clearing my thoughts in getting
my thoughts out. I do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally wasted simply just trying to figure out how to begin.
Any ideas or tips? Appreciate it!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Greetings from Idaho! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to browse your website on my iphone
during lunch break. I really like the info you present here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.
I’m shocked at how fast your blog loaded
on my cell phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G ..
Anyways, very good blog!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Greetings! I know this is kinda off topic but I was
wondering which blog platform are you using for this site?
I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another
platform. I would be great if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am not sure where you are getting your information, but
great topic. I needs to spend some time learning much
more or understanding more. Thanks for great information I was looking
for this information for my mission.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility
issues. When I look at your blog site in Firefox, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping.
I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, great blog!
LikeLiked by 1 person
An outstanding share! I have just forwarded this onto a co-worker
who was conducting a little research on this.
And he in fact ordered me lunch simply because I found it for him…
lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thanks for the meal!!
But yeah, thanks for spending the time to talk about this matter here
on your web page.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was able to find good info from your blog posts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My spouse and I stumbled over here coming from a different page and
thought I might as well check things out.
I like what I see so now i’m following you. Look forward to
checking out your web page again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
each time i used to read smaller articles which as well clear their motive,
and that is also happening with this paragraph which I am reading now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve been browsing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found
any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me.
Personally, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the net will be much
more useful than ever before.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi there! Would you mind if I share your blog
with my zynga group? There’s a lot of people that I think would really appreciate
your content. Please let me know. Thanks
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for another informative site. The place else may just I am getting
that kind of info written in such an ideal means?
I’ve a mission that I’m simply now working on, and I’ve been on the glance out
for such information.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted
to say that I have truly enjoyed browsing your weblog posts.
After all I will be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write once more very soon!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Enjoy nakrap
LikeLike