Internet Smackdown Aftermath

[Bad Writer]

It IS actually a thing I tend to bring up whenever I get into it with military guys who think that because they've served in the military that their opinions on politics and the military's place in American politics is somehow ironclad and incapable of being criticized. Whenever they bring up the "Well, until you've served you don't have any right to criticize," I just coolly reply "I was one of several hundred million signatures your paychecks, so yes, I do, actually."

That's just how society works. You don't get to back-talk to your employer. It's one thing to be respected for your service. It's another to stake claim that BECAUSE you served, your opinions on matters regarding military policy are somehow superior to anyone/everyone else's who DIDN'T serve.

This does not pertain to anyone here who has served, nor is it a generalized statement towards all US servicemembers, but I find it uncomfortable and aggravating when I am told by a soldier that they "served for me" like this was a one-way street. Because, yes, they did...but they did so with money I paid into taxes. In a sense, I paid for them to serve. They got something out of it. It wasn't like they served and got nothing, which seems often to be the case with some servicemembers I speak with; they have a mentality that we should feel so lucky that they serve for us, as if they're deigning us merely worthy to let us be served by them.

I say this as a guy who has a brother in the Rangers, who does NOT imply such nor does he throw his veterancy around into the faces of civvies. If a guy who can manage to serve for over a decade in constant combat operations in one of the most elite units in the US military can manage to NOT try to use it as a superiority trip...why can't so many others?

I'm probably gonna piss at least a few people off with that post, and believe me, that's NOT my intention, I'm just stating an observation.

I get where you're coming from, and knowing a humble soldier is a treat indeed. However, it's very presumptuous of you to call yourself my employer. That would imply that you were given the choice of hiring me, and we all know that's not true.

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Service members do, too. Guess that makes them self employed.

Not when they are deployed in an active war zone. When stationed non-combat in the US, they do pay taxes, but deployed overseas, at least in combat, they do not pay any taxes.

What's your point?