I am not on Twitter, and I have respect for those who served in the military,

[ashling]

NOTE: I posted this earlier as a reply here: https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11367704

but I was interested in your genera attitude towars co,,umity or public service

SOMEONE in the news media needs to point out that there are many ways to "serve."

I was not in the military. I proudly protested the war in Vietnam and more recent conflicts. I took college deferments to finish (thoughP went through 1 semester after getting a relatively low number in the lottery without a deferrment) in my last semester I sugned up for a Navy Flight program, but did not make it through my physical due to an injury ... ironically, during college I had an open reduction due to a broken leg and dislocated ankle)

having been basically shut out of the military ... though after law school I did try, unsucsessfully, to get into Army and Navy JAG ...

My subsequent career was nostly public service oriented, often with state programs such as LIHEAP and mental health or non-profit ... the rest of my career was as a stay at home dad / househusband taking care of 2 kids while my wife either worked as Congressional Staff, running state energy efficiency programs or non-profit .... in addition, we returned to graduate school in political science and each taught college government for community college or state university ....

No one walks up to either of us in the mall to thank us for our service to the poor, mentally ill, or colleges - except former students - and yet little miss priss wants to say on national TV that we need more vets no matter their background or policy or values beyond that military service. Vets like Generals Petraeus and Flynn, and the Congressman who is the subject of this particular Twitter discussion.

Service and Values are EACH important.

BTW, my dad was a rural doctor and Navy Vet ... mom was a social worker and a Red Cross director both in India and Burma in WWII and subsequently at a Veterans Hospital after the war where she met and married a Navy doctor.

[Docreed2003]

1. Amen...

Signed another Navy Doctor!

[tazkcmo]

2. I'm an Army veteran

When I meet a teacher I thank them for their service. You are correct, there are many ways to serve and thank you for yours. Cheers!

[ooky]

3. Miss Priss doesn't speak for everybody and not for me.

I'm a Navy vet and respect our public servants. Where would we all be without them? It sounds like you've been serving something or someone most of your life and that's what's important. If I were you I wouldn't give a second thought to the military thing. Its just another way to serve.

[Nitram]

4. I entirely agree.

I never served because I got a high lottery number during the Vietnam War. But I was a teacher for the first 23 years of my career, two of them in the Peace Corps. Since them I've been a field conservation specialist, working with our local government and the University of Virginia to protect water quality and manage stomata runoff. I didn't make a fortune in these lines of work, but I go a lot out of doing what I thought might make a small part of the world a little better.

[BaileyBill]

5. I'm a VA veteran.

Turned 18 just as Vietnam ended, but my first job out of college was with the Research Service at a VA Hospital. Was co-author on the very first peer-reviewed study on PTSD in a psychological or psychiatric journal, as well as several more published studies in the next few years. I like to hope that those studies helped to show that PTSD is very real and very deadly, and that the discussion we started has saved countless veterans' lives over the last 38 years from a condition that was almost unheard of and unaddressed at the time.

[flotsam]

6. I'm an "era" vet

and have a brother who was a Viet combat vet. The "thank you for your service" movement is kind of fucked up. While protesting Vietnam was valid, returning veterans were either ignored or in some few cases, actively denigrated. Now a lot of boomers fall all over themselves trying to thank the ones they ignored. For my part I seldom give any display of past service and seldom talk of my time. If my brother speaks of the thanks his attitude is "Don't bother, too late!". Younger family members are clueless- one cousin told my brother he wasn't actually patriotic-after all, they had to draft him. A real patriot was her brother who volunteered (while in some legal mess) and after the hottest of the action was over. In all I think most vets just really wish people would let it drop. The real warriors are mostly old now and just want to be left alone...

[ashling]

8. I was against the war,

but always felt "guilty" because the way some groups were "forced" to fight. I felt that I owed them something, thus my attempts to serve in the military.

Before I graduated from law school I worked for the agency that rated applications for employment in my state. I always felt it was slightly unfair that vets who had recieved an "honorable" discharge got 2 p0ints added to their score. I applied for many of those jobs, and was resentful ... same thing was true in every other state in which I applied and the federal. Many times I missed the cut to even be interviewed, but 1 pt. ... at the same tome I was in favor of Affirmative Action.

I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable, but I would like too thank ALL on this dite for their public service in whatever capacity.

[flotsam]

10. I appreciate it.

I think we mostly have to score ourselves internally and hope for rave reviews at our funeral. You thank an era vet I thank a Viet Vet, they thank a combat vet and combat vets thank those who didn't make it home....And I think we all had friends who did not. Truly, as to the whole veteran and affirmative action preference if you don't feel some ambivalence you haven't looked closely. Mostly I call it a semi-necessary evil and drive on. I thank all who do societal good but there just isn't a public forum for it and maybe that's just as well. Honors are always better when they are given by peers rather than the general public. I gave up on new holidays and proclamations long ago. There are thousands of laudable acts but just 365 days in a year. YMMV

[ashling]

11. well said

[maxrandb]

7. I served 30 years in the United States Navy

and it used to make me squeemish when complete strangers would say "thank you for your service".

Yes, I served and sacrificed time away from my family, but you do realize that it is an extremely small percentage of the military that will ever see, or be in combat. My "combat" experience involved launching aircraft from the flight deck of a carrier 1,000 miles away from where the bombs dropped.

To me, the teacher, stock crew at the grocery store, factory worker, scientist, single mom working 2 jobs, fireman, EMT, bus driver, etc., have contributed so much more to this country than I did.

The military is not easy and it's not for everyone, but my service doesn't make my political views carry any more weight than anyone else.

Anyway, that's how I feel about my status as a vet

[USALiberal]

12. Wow, thank you for this.....

What a good way to look at it.

[Blaukraut]

9. Hubby is an AF vet and feels the same way you do

He actually gets annoyed when people thank him for his service because he knows that other non military people have sacrificed much more for a life of service than he has.