"ArtKramr" wrote

They also serve who stand and wait. How would they have done in combat?.
We
will never know will we?

Art, it seems your dividing line between glory and those of a lesser caliber
is combat/no combat. i.e. being shot at counts. Everything else somewhat
less worthy.

You know as well as most reading this that military personnel don't get to
choose their war, or often even their job. No matter how many people
volunteer for the Green Berets, the military *still* needs supply troops,
bomb loaders, crew chiefs, etc, etc, etc.

Of the many thousands of bombs I loaded in my career, none was dropped in
anger. Not a one. Yet I served during several combat actions. Libya,
Grenada, Panama, Somalia, Iraq. How did THAT happen? Why didn't I
'volunteer' for El Dorado Canyon, or Desert Storm? Because that's not the
way it works anymore. My mission was elsewhere. Why didn't the F-16 pilots
at Ramstein 'volunteer' for Desert Storm? Because that's not the way it
works anymore. They had their own mission with the 86th FW in Germany. Not
everyone gets to go, no matter how bad they want it.

What would you say to Willie the Wolfs' crew chief? Or the bomb loaders? Or
the supply troop that ensured you had good tires? Or the logistics officer
ensuring the entire 8th AF had fresh tires?

Would you call them a lesser caliber of men, simply because they were not
shot at?

No. You would shake their hand, buy them a beer, and thank them for helping
you in *your* mission. They had theirs, you had yours. At least, that's what
I hope you'd do.

Now please extend the same respect to all those others who did serve
honorably, volunteer or draftee, in war or in peace.

Pete