I met a WW2 veteren recently. He had served on a battleship, USS Indiana IIRC. He told me now days people “thank him for his service”. In his time, it was “you lucky bastard, BB’s are comfortable and easy duty”.
BB’s ?
BB is the ship designator for battleships. E.g., the USS Missouri is BB-63.
When I was in and for 15 years after I got out no civilian ever thanked a service member. The mood was neutral to suspicious at best. Some of my acquaintances and neighbors thought what I did was reprehensible. All that changed after 9/11. An event in which the military had almost no involvement, and what little they did have amounted to being caught flat-footed.
Nowadays many major airports have these greeter clubs that come out to applaud returning military. Or is some cases just flights full of newly minted E1s graduating from boot camp & being shipped to wherever to do whatever.
I’m another one who thinks military worship is deeply wrong. It is the antithesis of what the United States Constitution stands for. The military is a necessary feature of the modern world. And probably always will be. And since we have one, it’s darn good that it remains a highly professional organization. I was proud to do my part, both then and now. But syncophantic cheerleading is puerile.
Jingoism is a disgrace regardless of which country does it.
How did you know my skirt was caught in the back of my pantyhose??? :eek:
A gentleman never reveals his sources. For example, I’ll never identify the location of the chandelier, either.
VA soaking is a subculture like Extreme Couponing. The folks who do it feed off of each other, researching every possible malady they have 40 years after their stint in Nam, looking for the magic combination that will get them to 100%. 50% gets you paid though. Unfortunately my gramp got into this in his later years after marrying a very dramatic women who was 20 years his junior and was a nursing home attentdant. So she was constantly diagnosing him and explaining how everything is linked to his tours in Nam. They married when he was in his 50’s and he was in decent shape, living alone taking care of things, playing cards with his friends, doing dishes, washing clothes etc. No major medical issues. Then when she came along her was on oxgyn within the year. It was really sad to see him change in that way. Convinced that he was sicker and sicker and sicker till he got a wheel chair and it was done. Claimed every illness as a VA claim. Got to be pathetic.
We were very close so this was hard to deal with.
A quick google didn’t tell me much. Are those any kind of official?
I was welcomed back home at the airport by a guy wearing an orange sheet who gave me a flower. Then he asked me for a donation. There was a cute looking girl in tight bell bottoms and a peasant blouse who called me a murderer. Then there was an airport cop who told me not to cause any trouble here. And the bartender who told me I wasn’t old enough to buy a beer at the bar there.
Being thanked for my service seems really anticlimactic to me now.
When I came back from Nam, we landed at San Bernadino. I caught a ride with a friend to the Hollywood district in LA where I intended to rent a car to go see my fiance at the time. I was in summer whites, and had a deep tan, so there wasn’t much mistaking where I’d come from. Hertz and Avis refused to rent me a car because I didn’t have a credit card. At both places, I explained my circumstance: just back from Vietnam, haven’t seen my girl in a year, need a car, etc. No deal. I pulled out a wad of money (about $1,000) that I had saved, and offered to pay cash in advance. At that time, that amount of money would have rented a car for quite a long time. Nope, fuck off.
I ended up going to a new car rental start-up company called Dollar (you may have heard of it), and explained again to the lady behind the counter and showed her the cash. By this time I was quite frustrated and likely sounded like it. She just smiled and said “Do you have a driver’s license?” “Yes.” “What kind of car would you like?” I’ve never rented from Hertz or Avis in the intervening 45 years unless there’s no other option.
All this time, I thought it was Prof. Plum, with the candlestick, in the library. Who knew?
None of it is official procedure, no. The coins are tokens that hold a story of an experience the giver has had and wants to share w/ the recipient. There’s no regulated protocol for receiving a regular servicemember returning from a theater of war unless they’re under military custody in some way (deceased, hospitalized, indicted). There are several volunteer groups who greet returning troops in various ways.
I see an elegantly appointed dining hall…
The Maine Troop Greeters are civilian volunteers who are waiting at the terminal in Bangor for every single returning flight from Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. Some are former military, but many are just people who really go out of their way to be there to say ‘welcome home’ to our service members. We arrived at 3:00am and they were there. Another time was around midnight, another was also very early morning. They have been given challenge coins, medals and patches from thousands of sailors, marines, soldiers, airmen and coast guard sailors. The collection is truly immense.
I asked one of them what they are planning for the coin and patch collection when this all ends. She said they still inventorying all the coins and are working to ensure the collection remains together.