Tell me I'm not the only one

[Aragarthiel]

My whole life, I've always felt like anyone who has served in the military has been held in unnecessarily high regard. It seems like anyone who has served, whether they were actually deployed or just sat in an office filing papers for a living, is treated like a king or queen out in public. I know that many who have served have never seen any real fighting, and work the government equivalent of menial public sector jobs. I can understand military discounts and whatnot, but I feel like it goes too far to have someone who spent their entire service working at a base Burger King or something elevated to "hero" status.

I've met people who actually did see fighting, and one of my best friends married a man who has seen some of the most horrific parts of war, so I know what it means to be a hero. But I really don't think that anyone in a military uniform should be treated as a hero just because they wore a uniform.

I come from a family that has had people serve in every branch, doing all kinds of jobs, so I'm not sure where this attitude comes from, I'm just looking to find out if I'm really the only one who sees things this way.

[Greenday]

Having been overseas in a warzone, I know what you are talking about. I went over as a contractor and I felt like I was in more danger than most of the soldiers given my work. I made friends with soldiers who actually went out on missions. It's why I struggle watching any EOD or SF movies/shows. But there's so many desk jockeys it's absurd. I knew people who recommended each other for various awards. It was disgraceful. Then because I was a contractor, I'd get treated like a second class citizen just above the Eastern Europeans (That's another story).

[s_stabeler]

I think part of the reason behind treating all soldiers as heroes is because it's hard to tell ( as a civillian) who the people who have been to a warzone are, and who are the ones who have juts been desk jockeys.

there's also the fact that it can be hard to define exactly who is a desk jockey- I had a grandfather who worked in supply (that was how it was described to me) in WW2 in Africa. Sounds like a desk jockey job? well, he got captured at least once.

[NorthernZel]

And nevermind the fact that if it weren't for the desk jockeys, deployments and missions could/would be an absolute clusterfuck when it comes to logistics, payrolls, HR issues and so on.

As a management guy I once heard holding a speech said, "a restaurant, no matter how upscale and successful it is, would crumble in a second if there wasn't anyone washing the dishes".