US Navy. 1979-1983 E-5 signalman USS Claude V. Ricketts (DDG-5). One Med, two NATO, Shellback and twice Bluenose. We were in Karachi Pakistan when Khomeini took power and the Iranian embassy was overrun. We deployed into the Gulf November 1979 and did not pull into port until February 1980.
We were buzzed by F-4s we sold the Shah. The USS LaSalle, rotating Frigates, and the Claude V.
The aircraft carriers and cruisers that got all the press at the time were safely in the Indian Ocean.
No fighting. No combat. But we were the peacetime targets should anything break out (like the Petty Officer of the Watch on the quarterdeck is the first to get shot should a shoot out take place because he's the only one with the weapon).
I long since abandoned the guilt feeling that somehow I did not do what others did (fight in combat even die in service of the Nation) since I was ready, willing and able to do so. I have heard of men and women who survived combat who felt guilty for not dying along with their brothers and sisters in the battle.
I hope they realize what I finally did. And that their life is in a real sense a victory for their fallen brethren.
So is everybody's life.
To serve and protect... is what we all signed up for.
Though I will say I am tired of the patronizing platitude "thank you for your service" when I am denied access to the VA and illegals choke the medical system on the outside.
Being told I make too much money by the GW Bush administration one year, the next year my wages went well below that mark but because the year before I made more than 40k I still could not use the VA and had no insurance. Tough luck, Vet.
I figured out home remedies to get through sever bouts with asthma... and discovered vitamins and herbs actually do keep the doctor away (unlike an apple a day).
I didn't get the GI bill because Congress did away with it almost strictly during the time of my enlistment. When I applied after it was reinstated, Tough luck, Vet, you enlisted from 1979-1983.
I could go on. But I know there are veterans who have it much worse than I ever had it. And the way this country benefits from military veterans it is abysmal the way they are treated!
If memory serves, Roman soldiers were tax exempt during time in service. Lifers were exempt from taxes for life. And high ranking lifers extended that tax exemption to their immediate families.
For what we owe the vet and the survivors of fallen heroes it's as if we begrudge them the fair treatment ancient Rome gave their soldiers.