What the hell do you say?

timbo

timbo

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I was at Market basket tonight with my wife....we had just put the groceries in the car and I was on the way back from dropping the cart off at the corral. I saw a young woman talking with my wife as she was getting in the car and saw the young lady give my wife something. I figured it was a Bernie brochure (I'm cynical that way)...I got in the car and my wife handed me what the woman had given to her. It was a gift card for a Dunkin Donuts and it was in a card thanking me for my service. She undoubtedly saw my Veteran's plates.

I sat in the car and cried...I never saw combat....I joined at the tail end of the Viet Nam war (Feb75) so "technically" I am a Viet Nam era vet and I stayed in until Feb 81, just before things really started going to hell in a hand basket in the Middle East. I was aircrew in E2's flew on and off carriers but basically all I did was play war games the 6 years I was in.

I lost two friends in Viet Nam, both during Tet, I know other guys that I am friends with that saw hell during their tours in Viet Nam and while they may not have external scars they certainly carry internal scars, some very deep. I have a friend that lost a son in Desert Storm and another friend who lost a leg in Afghanistan...

The worst I ever experienced? A couple of weeks of SERE school during flightcrew training.

I have people coming up to me thanking me for my service and I don't know what to say...all I can say is "you're welcome" but what I want to tell them to go to the memorial walls and thank those people who's names are there and go to the VA hospitals and walk around and thank those men and women who are there. I don't feel like I really did anything.

So, what do you guys say? I keep tearing up when thanked and like tonight, cried like a baby, telling my wife that as little as the gift cost, it still hit me in the feels when it was given to me...every time I am told thank you, I can't help but think of those that will never hear those words because of their ultimate sacrifice
 
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i was medically disqualified, so i never served. but it takes a certain kind to serve. and when you enlisted. you did so knowing you could have seen combat. you deserve our gratitude just as well my brother. all who sacrifice part or all of there life deserves the most respect. the thing that comes to my mind is "all gave some. some gave all". don't ever discount your service to your country. you as well deserve appreciation. and you have mine. god bless.
 
Listen man, you sacrificed years of your youth in order to serve and be at the ready to defend. When I got out of high school, I really wanted to pursue the armed forces, but at the time I had really bad asthma. I didn't think I would make it. Instead, I spent the next few years hanging out, being dumb while others my age were in desert storm (1990). I have paid for uniformed service folks in dunkin before, and I regularly have my kids and I thank any active duty or veterans we come across. So as a non-veteran, I can tell you it's not about combat, or your service record, it's the fact that you were part of it. And for those of us that were not, for whatever reason, it means something. At the very least, a thank you.
 
I never want to be rude or undermine their sincerity, so I smile and nod or just say "my pleasure". Makes me feel very awkward - I love my profession and take a lot of pride in it, but it is not even remotely combat arms. It's maritime SAR, and while I don't mean this to slight it in any way - I always feel like I'm in some way accepting credit for the far greater sacrifices those that ARE in combat arms make. I balance that against coming off as a dick refuting people that appreciate what those guys do, so I just smile and nod.
 
Be proud of the service you gave to your country. Think of the friends you lost, and accept any gifts or thank you for them and you. !

Thank You sir for the time you gave. [iwojima] God Bless
 
You served. Now it's on you, in behalf of others, as well as yourself to accept gratitude when it comes your way. Thank you for your service.
 
The reasons you joined the military are your own. Probably not thinking about it, you decided to defend your country. You may not have seen combat, but you could have been asked to put your life on the line. You are saying thank you for yourself and everyone who ever served this country.
Thank you for serving.
 
I say different things to different people. I've been known to say "it was that or jail", sometimes I will say "thanks", sometimes "my pleasure".

I was a SAR professional as well. I provided closure to some, hope to others, and was damn good at it. It might not have been combat but it was fulfilling to me.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
"That others may live."

Those who go into harm's way, whether it be combat, the worst weather conditions you can face, or any other desperate situation to save others have earned a special place in the hereafter.

CoastieRon said:
I say different things to different people. I've been known to say "it was that or jail", sometimes I will say "thanks", sometimes "my pleasure".

I was a SAR professional as well. I provided closure to some, hope to others, and was damn good at it. It might not have been combat but it was fulfilling to me.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
 
Thanks all. Your comments have helped me gain a different perspective on some things I've struggled with for years. I signed up for military service for several different reasons, most of which are not relevant any longer but I think the main reason I did was to, in some small way, pay back (or maybe forward) a debt that I felt was due when I lost my two friends in 'Nam.

My choices were either the USMC (my friends I lost were both Marines) or the USN...I felt the Navy gave me better choices as far as training and to help fulfill some personal goals so with that I joined the Navy, went the aviation route, spent two years in Avionics schools and aircrew training and spent the rest of my six year stint stationed at NAS Miramar in San Diego or working on or being hurled off aircraft carrier decks in the Mediterranean. While I was in, I was never thanked for my service (as most people that served during that time can attest to)...in fact, many times I was scorned...maybe that's where my feelings ultimately come from.

I think about my friends I lost from time to time. I live next door to the NH Veteran's Cemetery and walk over there occasionally and see my friend's names on the Viet Nam memorial and think about the good times we had back then.

Thanks again for helping me sort though some of this stuff....
 
timbo said:
I was at Market basket tonight with my wife....we had just put the groceries in the car and I was on the way back from dropping the cart off at the corral. I saw a young woman talking with my wife as she was getting in the car and saw the young lady give my wife something. I figured it was a Bernie brochure (I'm cynical that way)...I got in the car and my wife handed me what the woman had given to her. It was a gift card for a Dunkin Donuts and it was in a card thanking me for my service. She undoubtedly saw my Veteran's plates.

I sat in the car and cried...I never saw combat....I joined at the tail end of the Viet Nam war (Feb75) so "technically" I am a Viet Nam era vet and I stayed in until Feb 81, just before things really started going to hell in a hand basket in the Middle East. I was aircrew in E2's flew on and off carriers but basically all I did was play war games the 6 years I was in.

I lost two friends in Viet Nam, both during Tet, I know other guys that I am friends with that saw hell during their tours in Viet Nam and while they may not have external scars they certainly carry internal scars, some very deep. I have a friend that lost a son in Desert Storm and another friend who lost a leg in Afghanistan...

The worst I ever experienced? A couple of weeks of SERE school during flightcrew training.

I have people coming up to me thanking me for my service and I don't know what to say...all I can say is "you're welcome" but what I want to tell them to go to the memorial walls and thank those people who's names are there and go to the VA hospitals and walk around and thank those men and women who are there. I don't feel like I really did anything.

So, what do you guys say? I keep tearing up when thanked and like tonight, cried like a baby, telling my wife that as little as the gift cost, it still hit me in the feels when it was given to me...every time I am told thank you, I can't help but think of those that will never hear those words because of their ultimate sacrifice
Click to expand...

Dude I'm kind of in the same boat. I was in the guard for 8 years and spent 2 years on active duty after 9/11. Thing is though that I never left the States.

It wasn't my choice were they sent me, I actually wanted to go and be part of the war. I'm actually kind of bitter about the 2 years of shit state side missions my unit got handed.

When someone thanks me, I just shake their hand and smile. I guess even though we feel like we didn't really do anything, WW3 could have broken out while we were in. That counts for something
 
jerryhipp said:
i was medically disqualified, so i never served.
Click to expand...

I also was "medically disqualified" in the summer of 1972. I went in for the pre-induction physical and was disqualified. I have to admit that I wasn't really too disappointed that I wasn't going into the armed forces but I was willing to serve.

Thank you for your service.
 
Tell them ya fought the battle of Great Lakes, and leave em scratching their heads.[smile]
I remember your avatar now... Sun kings right? On the flight deck of Cvn 68 in 75.
 
Thanks for your service and thanks to all vets and their families no matter how or where they served. As others have said, you don't control where you go or don't go but you stood up and said, "Here I am, send me".

I tried to join the army after high school in 1988 but I blew out the ACL in my left knee. My recruiter said I might still get in but then blew out the ACL in my right knee. That was it, no way I was getting in with two surgically repaired knees. It's all in God's hands and he has given me a good life, all I can do is say I tried to serve.
 
W.E.C said:
Tell them ya fought the battle of Great Lakes, and leave em scratching their heads.[smile]
I remember your avatar now... Sun kings right? On the flight deck of Cvn 68 in 75.
Click to expand...

Yep....you got it brother! Battle of Great Lakes! Chicago winters suck! haha [smile]

I was on the Nimitz in '76. My squadron was on the Nimitz in '75 (the Nimitz' maiden voyage) but I was still in school at the time...Then I was embarked on the Forrestal in '78

One of the planes I flew in...this was in 1976...love the paint job on the rotodome.


E-2B_Hawkeye_VAW-116_1976_bicentennial_markings.jpg
 
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timbo said:
I think about my friends I lost from time to time. I live next door to the NH Veteran's Cemetery and walk over there occasionally and see my friend's names on the Viet Nam memorial and think about the good times we had back then.
Click to expand...

I think the feeling you described in the OP is similar to "survivor's guilt," and remembering good times you had with your lost friends is useful "therapy."

We should all live the best lives we possibly can in honor of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. You likely would have done the same for your brothers in arms had you been called to do so.

In God We Trust said:
When someone thanks me, I just shake their hand and smile. I guess even though we feel like we didn't really do anything, WW3 could have broken out while we were in. That counts for something
Click to expand...

That's a positive way to handle it and think about it. By taking the compliment graciously, it also allows the person who is expressing gratitude the good feeling that they've accomplished their goal.
 
The best explanation I was ever given, to address the way you feel about this, is that you, and many others like you, once gave your youth, your freedoms, and indeed many of your rights, to Uncle Sam. You gave him these things as a blank check that he could cash any time, and anywhere, he wished. You were thanked because of that, and you deserve the thanks.
 
timbo said:
Yep....you got it brother! Battle of Great Lakes! Chicago winters suck! haha [smile]

I was on the Nimitz in '76. My squadron was on the Nimitz in '75 (the Nimitz' maiden voyage) but I was still in school at the time...Then I was embarked on the Forrestal in '78

One of the planes I flew in...this was in 1976...love the paint job on the rotodome.


View attachment 158204
Click to expand...
Just missed ya, I went up to Newport in 76.
 
W.E.C said:
Just missed ya, I went up to Newport in 76.
Click to expand...

When we came back to CONUS after that 76 cruise, it was to Newport News. Were you on the Nimitz on it's maiden voyage? I heard horror stories about that cruise...it was all dog and pony shows and the skipper was not a real nice person to his crew (to put it as delicately as possible). Spit and polish the whole cruise. The new skipper they got for the second cruise was a very decent guy...
 
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I never saw combat....I joined at the tail end of the Viet Nam war (Feb75) so "technically" I am a Viet Nam era vet and I stayed in until Feb 81, just before things really started going to hell in a hand basket in the Middle East. I was aircrew in E2's flew on and off carriers
Click to expand...
I'm not a vet and many non-vets don't realize that when you enlist and sign your name, you sign a blank check payable to the American People payable in any amount up to and including your life.

It doesn't matter that you never saw action. You might have. There were no guarantees of safety for you. You served. You sacrificed. Besides, aircraft carrier ops is some pretty dangerous and harry chested stuff.
 

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