Combat vs Non combat (1 Viewer)

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120mm said:
On a more serious note, anyone who asks the question "Combat or Non-Combat" in 2016 obviously has no clue about the nature of modern warfare.
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Questions can initiate learning; those that ask, answer, or observe.
 
There is definitely a difference between combat and non combat. Combat infantry have worked harder, endured more hardship, and suffered more in austere environments than any other MOS in the military. :rolleyes:

Strut around in a Murica t shirt and post up pics of your every day carry springfield xd with punisher skull magazine base plates on Pinterest. Grunt Style is one of the most DB things I have ever seen. The only person that would classify themselves elite in military service are inexperienced or arrogant. Unless you survived Verdun. Then you can talk s*** about anything.:flipoff2:
 
As most know I am on a mostly all Veterans Fire crew here in AZ.

Most of us were line guys. Or small unit guys.

We can talk crap all day long to each other , but when it comes down to it we have each other's back.

Now if a civvy talks crap to us on the crew it is a different ball of wax. Most of you know the talk I am talking about. The Marines versus Army type stuff. At the end of the day we are still brothers and sisters in the big picture.

So. Let's pull our britches up and get this place back on track.
 
dirtyboots said:
There is definitely a difference between combat and non combat. Combat infantry have worked harder, endured more hardship, and suffered more in austere environments than any other MOS in the military. :rolleyes:

...The only person that would classify themselves elite in military service are inexperienced or arrogant. Unless you survived Verdun. Then you can talk s*** about anything.:flipoff2:
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I think you are describing the difference between respect and awe. :beer:

Having spent time in combat, but not infantry, I will support that combat grunts had it the worst. We may have also lost sleep, sweated, bled, and dealt with the dyanamics of a 2-way range, but being in a tank unit meant we were more likely to have coffee every day. :steer:
 
Nupe just poking fun at blanket generalizations..unless it's me mocking Grunt Style aficionados:rolleyes:..it's apples and oranges from one day to the next, and from one person's experience to the next depending on their threshold and perceptions of reality..awe and whatever is in the eye of the beholder..

And regretting posting in this thread in 3.2.1 slowly brushing out have a good one fellers-:beer:
 
All we ever wanted was warm chow, more ammo, and to top off the flask.
 
I respect all veterans who stepped up and served. I was in heavy combat, earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses, Purple Heart, Bronze Star and two Air Medals with "V" device among other stuff. Took a lot of lives of those folks who were most certainly trying to kill me or other troops. But, being on the tip of the spear required a lot of good troops behind me keeping the gunships in flying condition, the cooks in the mess hall, supply guys, transportation guys, and on and on. It was team work.

What I do not like to see is the guys who were not in a combat role showing up at the VA claiming PTSD or other maladies directly related to combat in order to get some type of benefits not due them. Or guys wearing dirty or damaged camo. Have some pride and do not denigrate the uniform guys. It seems the ones who talk all the time about their service really didn't see much actual service. i.e. While at the VA for a checkup on my injuries from combat, a guy was loud mouthing about his service...pissed me off, took him to task and he didn't have the right answers to a lot of questions he should have known. Told him to take a hike and the others vets and their wives in the waiting area nodded and clapped as he left as they were also tired of his loud mouth and BS.

Veterans are special people, they have served this wonderful country we call America and can stand tall and not take any crap from anyone.

"All we ever wanted was warm chow, more ammo, and to top off the flask." said Rocky...I agree, spent almost a month in the Ashau Valley, "C" rations every day and occasionally hot food flown in the insulated containers. Had to throw a grenade in the creek to kill the leaches before we could take a dip to wash up.
 
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Was just in a long talk with my marine buddy last night and this came up "all I wanted was..."

To dry off :)

Wet cloths ... and muddy

He was completely naked I guess when two hues came up upon his group ... they radioed about "a naked Jesus" one of 'their guys' in the landing area completely nude ... when his (I think he said MSgt I could be wrong) master Sargent came up to enquirer wtf is going on his response (in the nude arms stretched out and looking up) "just drying off sir"

The Sargent had complained earlier that they didn't have dry socks? To him and his fellow marines

Can't necessarily go to a laundry mat :meh:

I am Not a veteran... so I do not claim to relate ... but at least you don't have to deal with common core and parents who want you to parent their children so they dont have to :meh:
 
Hey all,

First post in this sub. Not even a TLC owner yet (picking up my 84 FJ60 tomorrow, can't wait).

Like others have said, I think regardless of what you did, just serving your country is an admirable thing. There are people who take advantage of it, for sure, and those who were piss poor military members, but I think most did their best to serve honorably.

I was a medic in the Army from 2012-2016. On the line with the infantry guys with one deployment to Afghanistan. Things weren't too kinetic (thankfully) when we were there, and aside from some IEDs and a few gunshots, everything was pretty laid back. My experience certainly fell on the side of less combat, particularly compared to those who were there in the earlier years. Warm food most nights, slept in a bed most nights, etc.

Were the folks in the mail room going out on patrols everyday? Nope. Was I glad they were in the mail room when we came back from missions and had mail to pick up? Absolutely. They played an important role.
 
Person Other than Grunt...Still you served and wrote the check to the military for an amount up to and including your life. Thanks for your service.
 
Welcome dtsnyder and custyota to the highway, thanks for your service guys.
 
My brother was Armor mechanic sixteen years and he never heard of it, he called them REMF. I told him we used pogue. He looked it up and was surprised to find. "Members of the armed forces employed in rear echelon duties".
 
Medics, seen as non combat by many, the most decorated corps in the British Army, because casualties happen in dangerous places and when the grunts are in their holes taking cover, the medic's running his ass off out in the line of fire armed with a bag of field dressings!!
 
Since WWII, the US military has employed roughly 2 support personnel for each one in combat. It's possibly the highest ratio of any significant military in the world, which is probably why we're so effective. So there's no reason for any distinction to be made - certainly not OUTSIDE the military. (We can hassle each other WITHIN the services...)

I was one of 2 people who wore a marksmanship award for the TOW missile (mech infantry) in a linguist (intel) battalion. So even though I joined because I needed a job, I was proficient & professional during all my active duty (about 4 years out of 9 that I was enlisted, which is high for a guardsman). And although I was never in-theater during combat, I was on active duty during Panama & Desert Shield/Storm, so I have those ribbons, too. I went to Panama later, to assist with the closure of Ft. Clayton. I also served briefly in DC, escorting foreign military officers.

Although I was a grunt, my opinion of soldiers who enjoy the thrill of combat is distinctly different from some expressed in this thread. I agree with Truman & Lee - war is something to be AVOIDED. Not in the sense of desertion or cowardice, but in the sense of using it only as a last resort. But it's something to be PREPARED to do well. And support personell are the only reason combat personell can succeed.

One other note that this thread brought to mind...
The US military isn't necessarily effective ONLY in combat; it's also effective in diplomacy as the "big stick". And that comes from the accurate reporting of TRAINED personell ready to be deployed. It's not necessary to deploy them for them to affect our international relationships. So just because a veteran "never saw combat" doesn't reduce his/her contribution. Moreso the opposite - having trained service members keeps us OUT of war.
 
JohnnyC said:
Was just in a long talk with my marine buddy last night and this came up "all I wanted was..."

To dry off :)

Wet cloths ... and muddy

He was completely naked I guess when two hues came up upon his group ... they radioed about "a naked Jesus" one of 'their guys' in the landing area completely nude ... when his (I think he said MSgt I could be wrong) master Sargent came up to enquirer wtf is going on his response (in the nude arms stretched out and looking up) "just drying off sir"

The Sargent had complained earlier that they didn't have dry socks? To him and his fellow marines

Can't necessarily go to a laundry mat :meh:

I am Not a veteran... so I do not claim to relate ... but at least you don't have to deal with common core and parents who want you to parent their children so they dont have to :meh:
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willie and joe.jpg
My dad had a paperback with all of Maudlin's Willie and Joe cartoons. I used to poor over it and laugh at most of them even when I was too young to read and wouldn't understand most of them if I could've been able to read. My dad was in the 11th Calvary mechanized. He was one of the true Americans that fought a war that stood for something if any war can. He also had post traumatic syndrome. I guess that had a lot to do with my choice when I was conscripted to fight a siht war. After living with my fathers demons I sometimes wonder if my choice of the navy wasn't from a bit of cowardliness. I had a gut feeling Vietnam was for nothing but could not leave my country because of it. For a brief time in boot I got to feeling patriotic but they fcuked with me too much and I changed my mind. Well I got on board ship (destroyer) and went on my first cruise. It wasn't too bad if you don't mind going with out a shower three or four days in a row. Especially after spending 10-12 hours down the oily hole in 95 degree steam heat. (I was a boilerman) There were times I would be laying unbathed in my rack on sheets that hadn't been changed for a while and start thinking about and feeling sorry for the other young men that were probably laying in a soggy rice paddy somewhere. I think of it as form of survivors guilt. Then I would think some more and say at least I have sheets. My second cruise wasn't any better other than the fact that we got hit by shore fire and spent a month in dry dock in Sasbo Japan. Then there was the time a couple of months later that I was injured while we were on the line and I got flown to the hospital in Subic bay where I spent a few weeks R&R. Sorry I digress. Some of us had it better than others but we were all supposed to be brothers in arms. In spite of that when one faction met up with another it could sometimes get rowdy. Part of it was because we were young ass holes full of spit and vinegar and some of it was because we might have though it was expected of us. For instance, in boot at San Diego our chief said to us while pointing to the Pendleton Marine base across the river "right now they are telling their boys it takes 10 sailors to whip one Marine, don't you believe it, any 9 of you can do it." My dad even told of fights between the different branches of the military when they were in England waiting to be sent into battle. We are all older now and supposedly wiser, so why is it many of us are still ready to take a jab verbally or otherwise at each other because of petty differences. I thank each one of you that has served in what ever capacity. To the young people now serving my hat is off to you all.
 
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Marine, Yankee White Cat 1, Infantry - Deployed. Did peacekeeping for UN and other "non-combat" missions because "combat" is a loosely defined term when you worked under special operations command. I heard shots fired in anger and I don't care to talk about it, but my time doesn't make me a "COMBAT VETERAN".

So I don't get any credits on resumes and the VA hardly pays attention to my chronic injuries because they didn't happen during a "Time of war."

I don't have decorations because most of what I did, didn't happen in a theater of war. I don't care, I didn't join up to be paraded around or to decorate my chest.

This is why I don't go to or talk to veterans groups because I could give a s*** about a pissing contest. So few people actually volunteer anymore, and those that do have no control over where they go or how they serve.

I am guessing this isn't the sub-forum for me.
 
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