People often note a candor about Veterans. Sometimes it's interpreted as crankiness. Sometimes it comes across as righteous indignation. Some find it as a refreshing quality while others envy the authority with which Veterans speak about matters of National Defense, necessity of sacrifice to maintain Freedom, and the recognition that evil exists in the world.
The military will change a man. Combat gives a man experiences that will alter his tolerances for everyday life. Clear, concise communication isn't just a luxury, but a necessity in a life that changes from intense boredom to life piercing adrenaline in split seconds. One must learn vigilance in details at points of both boredom and excitement, while preventing tunnel vision, if one is to protect those that he relies on to protect him.
To protect Our Citizens from atrocious enemies, a Soldier sacrifices luxury, sleep, and time with his kids, wife, and family. To protect Our Nation & Our Freedoms, he sacrifices a tiny bit of his Soul. He gives away the comfort of innocence, of the naivete of never having stared evil in its eyes. A Combat Veteran has walked boldly into the very gates of Hell, to prevent as many demons as possible from visiting Our Citizens in their lives of luxury.
But Warriors rarely have the luxury of telling their own story, from the front. Warriors must use their time wisely, prepping for the battle, or fighting the battle. Often times, their downtime is sparse, without the luxuries of television, internet, phones, or even hardened walls or roof. The luxuries of the rear seem soft to the Groundpounders that risk the most, but are hardly to be envied by the Citizens back home. The FOB bound Troops live in little more than tin sheds with frequent power outages, pre-fabricated showers, and slow, intermittent internet. Activists would protest if convicted felons lived in the conditions of a FOB, yet it seems rather cush to those getting shot at on a regular basis.
And Combat Veterans, when they return to civilian life, are confronted again with the naivete, the luxury they protected for Our Citizens. So, it is a difficult pill to swallow, when the protected compare the Sacrifices and Risks of their Brothers still on the field of battle, with the "public service" of a politician who sits in an air conditioned office, or a mailman who wears shorts on a hot day or a raincoat on a wet day.
Some days, that Veteran chooses his new battles. Some days he recognizes that a particular ungrateful miscreant is unworthy of response, and other days, it boils up, and he cannot contain the disbelief and frustration that some of the protected won't even take the time to learn why the Warrior is willing to risk all to protect his fellow Citizens from harm.
But whether the Veteran recognizes it or not, it is as much for his Brothers on the Battlefield, as in defense of his own honor, that he rejects the argument that his willingness and that of his Brothers, to risk their lives for the safety of others, means that sacrifice is the same as the guy that chooses against risk, that instead chooses the life of ease protected by that sacrifice.
The world remains a dangerous place. Humanity has not evolved past the reality that 3% of population not only is willing, but enjoys or considers it normal, to oppress, murder, or otherwise torture the 85% of humanity that want to simply live a life of peace. But that other part? Those are the natural born Warriors, those that not only refuse to be victims, but refuse to stand by and watch evil prey upon the majority, even if the protected remain ungrateful, but in hopes that the protected will at the least allow their protectors to keep them safe.
And the desire of some that humanity will evolve to a point where no men are so evil as to enjoy the oppression and torture of their fellow man is a pipedream, that can only remain possible so long as their are Warriors willing to kill and risk death to protect the non-violent from that violence, inherent in a very small portion of humans. For without Honorable Warriors, the meek will be oppressed by the violent minority.
Stumble It!
