Topic: Like Folks To Acknowledge Their Military Branch And Such, If You Don't Mind

[Bob Wessner]

..compared to Vietnam vets who didn't wear their uniforms on American streets because they were villified by many.

There was a good deal of that. I was lucky, returned to Ann Arbor from Vietnam through Seattle and Chicago airports to Detroit. All I got were "welcome back." Even right here in Ann Arbor, a bastion of liberalism  I was treated well. Two nights after I returned I was awakened by a huge explosion (lived in an apartment 2 blocks form UofM campus). "They" had bombed the CIA recruiting office.

[demon78]

I don't know if I should comment but as per, I will, I think there is a thread in your "soul" after  you have been in the service that changes you, combat would intensify that change, but whether combat or not you've still been changed and returning to "civvy" life is a great wrench, personally I had a hell of time adjusting to being out, in some ways I envy Israel, every one there understands what a military does and what it stands for.
Bill the demon.

[nokrome]

i had no problem getting back to civilian life, although i never saw combat serving in the Marine Corps definitely had a huge influence on who i am today.
   i always tell people that enlisting in the Marines was the best thing i ever did and getting out was the second best.

[BobbyR]

Once you have been conditioned to a way of living, it is diffacult to go back. You have been changed in many ways. It cannot be switched on and off. There is a line you cross and that cannot be undone.

I'm sure all of us agree.  I wonder if this is an insight into the sad consequences of even the noblest war.

I also wonder if it makes any difference what role the military plays in a society, and how accepted it is?  I used to think that in Israel we had fewer problems because we had universal draft and fight a war of existence.  That, compared to Vietnam vets who didn't wear their uniforms on American streets because they were villified by many.  And for some of us in Israel, myself certainly, we are living out an almost mythological historic return and odyssey.  Now, I sometimes wonder if we weren't just in denial about things like PTSD (I'm convinced every combat vet has at least a little tinge of it somewhere), and just not recognizing the effects on individuals and the society they make up.

Dunno.

I only had one problem at an "Artsy" cocktail party when some azzhole asked out loud "if I got extra points for children since they were smaller and hard to hit." Somebody innocently mentioned I gave them a nice flight around Manhattan and the Hudson Valley. He came looking for me.  I am not a very big man, but I went back into the zone and few people had to pull me off him.

I met many Israelis and spent a bit of time with some IDF people in Nevada. Very highly skilled people and nice. My sense is that the population of Israel lives on high alert. People are aware of an unattended package and it will be dealt with quickly. We had the same situation here in NY after 9/11. A general unease overcomes everyone. I went to Baseball Game and Yankee Stadium with my kid, and seeing Cops with M-16s milling around was unnerving.

When Air Force One circled the Statue of Liberty this summer, it set off panic in Lower Manhattan. I guess you push it to the back of your mind,  and it can pop up.

I went this weekend with the wife to Atlantic City. The Borgata Hotel has the hottest night club in town. Dozens of hot chicks were walking around half naked, sometimes being on high alert is not a bad thing.     

Now they have decided to bring these rabid dogs to NYC for trial, I guess everything will be locked downail M   ehm