# Being in the Military Does NOT Automatically Make You a Hero **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 26, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-the-military-does-not-automatically-make-you-a-hero/814856 "2018-05-26T17:30:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-the-military-does-not-automatically-make-you-a-hero/814856/81 "2018-05-30T20:56:38Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > Excellent reply. I notice most of the people who reflexively say “Thank you for your service” anytime they meet a veteran are right-wing flag-wavers. They’re quick with the empty patriotism, but also the most likely to espouse values (and support politicians who enact policies) completely contrary to what our armed forces are supposedly defending. When I was at the defense language institute in Monterey CA in 2005 on Friday afternoons we would do a company run through the major areas of the city, the gate was right in the middle of downtown. Every time we did people would cheer for us as we passed them. Monterey is not known for its right wingers but they were Americans who appreciated servicemen without needing to make it political. I’ve also been “thanked for my service” by people of all political persuasions. In my experience the folks who complain about the level of respect afforded to soldiers and sailors tend to be those who want to make themselves feel better about not serving. Hence we get a lot of ideas like, service members are people who didn’t study in school or basically treat service members like they’re the bottom rung of society who needed to be employed by a government “make work” program. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-the-military-does-not-automatically-make-you-a-hero/814856/82 "2018-05-31T01:43:46Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > From WWII through Vietnam, the draft pulled a fairly wide swath of Americans into the military. WWII maybe, as there were a lot of strong feelings about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor across all segments of American culture. But I’ve never heard anything about the Vietnam War draft that implied that it was anything but an extremely divisive and polarizing policy that disproportionately affected the poor and actually undermined the US military’s combat readiness. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f08c70/32.png) [@Uncle\_Brother\_Walker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Brother_Walker)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-the-military-does-not-automatically-make-you-a-hero/814856/83 "2018-05-31T06:17:25Z")
I agree - we’re not all heroes. I used to get bugged when people (civilians) wanted to salute me or shake my hand when in uniform in public. My battle buddy in basic training was also given the “army or jail” option. He was actually a really nice guy. I never asked him what he did to get that option. That was his business and we were all in the same boat, so to speak. Oh, and as a Texan, I feel obligated to mention Audie Murphy. A total badass and one of the most highly decorated combat vets in history. But I’m no hero. I just joined for the college money. And in college, a lot of the greeks would make fun of us. The one I disliked the most was “ROTC nazi”. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2018, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-the-military-does-not-automatically-make-you-a-hero/814856/84 "2018-05-31T16:25:36Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > WWII maybe, as there were a lot of strong feelings about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor across all segments of American culture. Plus the Korean War draft, and the post-Korea peacetime draft, which is why we have Tom Lehrer’s “It Makes A Fellow Proud To Be A Soldier.” > [@](#): > > But I’ve never heard anything about the Vietnam War draft that implied that it was anything but an extremely divisive and polarizing policy that disproportionately affected the poor and actually undermined. _Disproportionately_, sure. Up to 1967, the 2-S deferment exempted college students. And after that, children of the well off could, with their parents’ help, get lawyers who would hire doctors who would find some physical problem (like Trump’s bone spurs) to get them 4-F’ed. But that didn’t mean that all that could, did. My father would have kicked me out of the house before he’d have paid for a lawyer to help me avoid the draft. (Fortunately for me, my draft year was 1973, the first year they didn’t draft anyone.) So did the draft pull in a wide swath of Americans? Yes. Was that wide swath disproportionately poor? Yes. Was it entirely composed of the poor and working classes? No. (Did the Vietnam draft undermine the US military’s combat readiness? That’s really a question for another thread, but ask yourself this: could the U.S. have fought the Vietnam war without the draft?) ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-the-military-does-not-automatically-make-you-a-hero/814856/85 "2018-06-02T06:38:52Z")
So my recruiter lied to me?!? ---
**Author:** ![Burty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/49beb7/32.png) [@Burty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burty)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-the-military-does-not-automatically-make-you-a-hero/814856/86 "2018-06-05T01:49:54Z")
20 years USN most of it on submarines; not a hero and it makes me uncomfortable to be told “thanks for your service”. One thing that did make an impression on me was a soldier in Iraq who was interviewed. He said if you support the troops, then you should be calling for more “planes, tanks, bombs and boots on the ground”. Saying “thanks for your service” does a whole lot less than more actual support on the ground in battle. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-the-military-does-not-automatically-make-you-a-hero/814856/87 "2018-06-05T10:31:50Z")
> [@dba\_Fred](#): > > So my recruiter lied to me?!? Recruiters lie? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-the-military-does-not-automatically-make-you-a-hero/814856/88 "2018-06-05T14:48:32Z")
> [@Burty](#): > > One thing that did make an impression on me was a soldier in Iraq who was interviewed. He said if you support the troops, then you should be calling for more “planes, tanks, bombs and boots on the ground”. Saying “thanks for your service” does a whole lot less than more actual support on the ground in battle. I think we should be calling for removing troops from fighting for little to no purpose. > [@Bullitt](#): > > Recruiters lie? My recruiter told me that recruiters lie. Was he lying? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-the-military-does-not-automatically-make-you-a-hero/814856/89 "2018-06-05T15:34:48Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Or maybe they were given a choice by a judge – jail or service. > [@buddha\_david](#): > > Does this even happen anymore? Did it ever happen? It happened to a friend of mine. This was during the Vietnam era. The judge didn’t hand down any kind of legal order or anything like that, but he did make it clear that he wouldn’t see any need to proceed with the case if my friend enlisted. It was all informal. My friend enlisted in the Marines (his choice, the judge didn’t specify any particular branch), and all of the legal issues went away. There was no legal order, and to the Marines he was just another enlistee. I don’t think the military was even aware that my friend had basically been given the choice of joining the service or going to jail. My friend was wounded twice in Vietnam, and ended up with shrapnel in his backside, literally. It caused him some health issues later in life and at one point he had to have surgery to have a chunk of shrapnel removed because it had started wearing against a nerve which was causing his leg to do all sorts of interesting and uncommanded things. If you had told him that he was a hero he would have laughed at you. As far as he was concerned he was just a stupid Marine grunt who only went into the service to avoid jail time. He was a nice guy though. Sadly, he was killed a few years ago by some idiot crackhead who broke into his house. But yeah, while it may not have been anything official, some guys were effectively given a choice between jail and the service. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/being-in-the-military-does-not-automatically-make-you-a-hero/814856.md?page=4)