The "I was in the military" card

[Thermodolia]

I agree with the OP for the most part, I had an experience with it firsthand. I was out drinking one evening and I befriended this guy pretty quickly. He pulled the veteran card with me but I kind of blew it off, I'll touch more on that later. Over the course of our friendship for the next week or so, which was simply layover time for me and a good chunk of our time was spent drinking, it was more a matter of how much I could keep up with him. Anyway, just about every person we came into extended contact got to hear about how he was a sergeant of some sort, but he was very discreet about the part about being a sniper, only told a few people besides me. In our idle time alone, if I let him direct all the conversation, we'd pretty much only talk about horrifying sh,t he had seen in combat, and at times he would express views that the US military had left him mentally and physically handicapped after seeing and enduring some of the things that he did, his family became estranged, possibly because he became so strange, he developed a drinking problem, and all the trouble that old chestnut carries. When I departed to my next destination I left a little heartwrenched that I couldn't do more to help this person, but something tells me I probably wasn't fully qualified.

As I said earlier, when this friend of mine told me of his military experience I kind of just shrugged it off, as I do most of the time, for the simple fact that I have no military experience, I kind of shy away from subjects I can't relate to, and my grandfather who was in the Navy didn't really talk about it and certainly didn't demand any level of respect for it, probably because he was just a cook. The concept that I owe any verbal expression of gratitude to a veteran upon being told of their veteran status wasn't something I was taught in my schools in Phoenix or by my family, it was something I learned when I was like 21, from observing others for the most part. I guess since I've never been in the military, I can't relate to any of their etiquette and barely any background info. And that being said, I'm only 25, so I wasn't around for much and I don't feel like I owe much to the past, I'm kind of a selfish guy like that and some of the things that happened before my day were unspeakable, but that was all on them, I wasn't even born yet. I'm looking forward to a cool high-tech, hopefully greener future, war and conflict isn't something I want to dwell on.

Since I'm all about respect and you never know which ones feel particularly entitled about it, I will typically say "thanks for your service". Here in America we have very little, if any, choice in what wars we go fight, and even less about the ones we don't. We can't let the choices of our government divide us a people, I don't think it's right to disrespect veterans. Anywhere you are in the world really it's considered honorable to join the military, so I can't blame a young, impulsive, and totally inexperienced young adult to make that decision, regardless of the political host, but since the US military recruiters offer all kinds of sweet benefits during and after your service, it might even seem tempting. I don't see it as something to get all politically bent out of shape about.

You seem like a cool dude to me. Unless I actually know you or feel comfortable with you, I won't talk to about my military service. I don't even mention it in public, I haven't gone to combat and haven't really done anything else so why does it matter? The only way that someone figures out that I'm in the military is if they where also in the military, somehow I give off the military vibe.

[The Badlands Corporation]

While I completely see the point that you are making here, and I do agree that some individuals do the things that you describe in your post, I believe that it is not that the people are intending to parade their service around as such.

For example, my father enlisted in the United States Army at 17 and became a Combat Engineer(MOS 12B) before going to Airborne School(Jump School), and served on Deployments to Haiti and Bosnia in the 90s. In Late 2002, about a year after I was born, he was offered a Promotion to Warrant Officer if he went to Flight School and flew UH-60 Blackhawks. He flew UH-60s for 14 years before Retiring, serving three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, followed by a one year station at Camp Humphrey's in South Korea. That totals in at 21 years in the Army. He brings it up often in conversation because he's never done anything else in his life, and while he now flies the Medivac helicopter out of the local airport, he still has only been doing that for about a year. Therefore, the only experiences he's ever really had in his entire Adult life are in the Military, so when he brings it up, it is simply because that is the only experience he has ever really had in that topic. I believe this is the case for many Veterans and Active Duty servicemen and women because of the very same reason, they simply don't have any other experience to relate to.

I myself plan on enlisting in the Navy after college to become a SEAL, and I am willing to bet that I will do the exact same thing my father does right now in that time.

[Imperializt Russia]

Did you read Starship Troopers recently? Service does not guarantee Citizenship.

Service to earn citizenship is a good idea as long as non-military options are offered for those who are unable, unwilling oe unsuitable for military service.

I would in theory agree (and spent a part of my youth honestly believing in the take on the concept from the Starship Troopers movie, failing to realise Verhoeven was completely taking the piss out of Heinlein's worldview), but it's certainly not true of society today, nor a likely western society in the near future.

Especially since those "non-military options" are essentially, service to the state, and positions for such a thing is currently seen as cancerous in the US and even the UK by some sects of the political establishment.