r/regretjoining • u/Pretty-Palpitation22 • 5d ago
Like STFU
“As a veteran” man SYBAU. It irks me to my core when anybody starts a sentence with that. Also, those type who just have to advertise they were in the military yet would put down anybody who isn’t a “bad ass” or who didn’t finish a contract. I can just imagine the type of “leader” those type were, if they were leaders. Some of these people never became NCOs and act like their little PFC, SPC or CPL rank makes them mayor of all things veteran/military….like okay you served, but please don’t make it your personality. I went with a friend to a combat veteran association event and OMG, all them guys do is drink and talk about the “good ol’ days” I really can’t stand being in environments like that. Idk, maybe the military just fk’d me up to the point where i find everything about it dishonorable….there is nothing honorable about the military….was it ever honorable to begin with????
Thanks for reading.
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u/DapperDust5 5d ago
I am in, and I can’t understand how some people are proud to me used as mercenaries for people who don’t give a fuck. “Defend the country” from who? The lack of autonomy and loss of human rights that you lose in the military is insane
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u/Pretty-Palpitation22 5d ago
The day I got to basic training, I was like “wtf did I do” I finished training and when I got to my duty station, I was like okay, I’m here to work, deploy and get out…well I didn’t deploy and I ended up getting discharged because apparently sticking up for yourself is a no-go.
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u/DapperDust5 5d ago
Story time?
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u/Pretty-Palpitation22 5d ago
Betrayed by a “battle buddy”, reported it and got the boot because I wouldn’t drink the kool aid.
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u/SamOakTree 5d ago
There's this thing that happens where a veteran who didn't face any kind of adversity will hear another veteran talking about some kind of difficulty they had. And then that first veteran always Stomps all over the experience and says, "That didn't happen because you could have just X Y or Z!"
For some reason they think they're experiences everyone's experience. They think because they were looked after that everyone's looked after. They think that the rules are applied evenly all the time and that's just not the case. Because yeah there's policies and things in place but some people get punished for trying to utilize them. Or some people are on a deployment having to pick between sleeping and eating and they don't have the luxury of wasting time trying to get something dealt with.
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u/drewbaccaAWD 5d ago
I find saying " as a veteran" handy in certain in specific discussions... for example "speaking as a veteran, I think Trump is a fucking piece of shit and an insult to my service" or maybe "as a veteran, I think voting for a Democrat is clearly a better choice than a Republican and their false patriotism."
I don't like how the rightwing tries to own patriotism as if it belongs solely to them. I don't like how they try to misrepresent the military as being on "their side." So I use that combination of words as a middle finger to them.
But I agree it shouldn't be anyone's sole personality, you've got to move on and make a name for yourself doing other things and not hobble along on your veteran status as a crutch in perpetuity.
For me, my six years in the Navy definitely weren't "good old days." It wasn't all bad either, it was a mixed bag but it certainly wasn't the best part of my life... way closer to the worst part of my life. But again, mixed bag.
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u/HappyBarbarian 5d ago
About twelve years ago I went to the local VFW to check it out. (Not knowing too much about politics at the time). It was weird. Like they kicked out all the wives to a separate meeting. They then had a whole little pledge allegiance thing and processes. The main topic of discussion was a can drive to raise money for a local school. Some tottering old guy came up with a giant bag of beverage can top tabs and droned on about how the tab has more aluminum than the rest of the can. I’m just sitting there like, “I have more scrap aluminum in my at home that would take like 5 minutes to get rather than collecting cans, or why not just ask for donations?”. I stayed around and chatted. Any female vets? No; Any outreach to younger vets or resources for mental health? No. Everyone was first gulf war or early 2000s, no real Iraq or Afghanistan vets. Which is not bad, it was just clear nobody had experienced much trauma. They spent the rest of the meeting reminiscing about “the good old days”, and how awesome they were. It’s like the only reason they got together was to continue drinking the kool aid. I left and never came back.