So, what is a combat vet???

[LoboGunLeather]

I agree 100% with deadin. I was in the same situation. I seem to recall that we got hostile fire pay, although I don't know why. We got tax benefits. I have our RVN Service Medal with four stars for four tours. Our carrier (CVA-31) got a couple of decorations from the RVN. But nobody ever shot at me, and I never set foot in Viet Nam.

The VA has their definitions for their reasons, and so does the IRS. It is not my nature to start arguments with people who are handing me money, or taking less of it than they were fixing to, but there is no way that I consider myself in the same class as people who were getting shot at. We both did honorably what we were told to do, but they did more.

That's it.

When my grandchildren, and now great-grandchildren, ask "Grampa, what did you do in the war?" my usual response is "I was an enlisted soldier, I went where I was told to go and I did what I had to do".

All of my records, decorations, and citations are in a box in the garage. I have no "I LOVE ME" wall in the house. State of Colorado gives me a free set of license plates every year with the Purple Heart logo, also a free state parks pass and free small game hunting and fishing license. After 50 years the Veterans Administration decided I should receive 70% permanent service-connected disability; probably my fault for waiting and hoping that I wasn't disabled and could live my life like normal people, pay my bills, raise my family, do the right thing.

Oh well, it all worked out for me. Many others had worse experiences.

 

[Kinman]

I served a year in a combat zone, namely Vietnam. Our base was rocketed and mortared, our boats were occasionally fired on. I was designated weapons guy on our boat and assigned an M14 and given training on the M2 we carried. I began having health issues with my Thyroid years ago, my Prostate had to be removed because it was cancerous. A friend of mine asked me if I ever went to the VA. I told him there were guys a lot worse off than me that need the VA. He said "You served in Vietnam are probably eligible for medical care and maybe compensation, your health issues could be caused by your exposure to Agent Orange." Still I hesitated, but after talking to others decided to at least register, I was still working at the time and didn't need any compensation.
I went to the VFW which was located on the same campus as the hospital and was taken in like a long lost brother, they walked me through the process and within couple months was awarded a 70% disability. The Urologist that removed my prostate was very willing to help me because he wondered why at 53 I would have such a virulent strain with no other male members of my family having a history, that was twenty years ago this past July.
I have nothing but good to say about my treatment by the VA, I believe our local VA hospital is one of the best in the nation.
I am not a combat soldier and served in a non combatant role of support as much the same as a clerk typist, supply guy, truck driver and for that matter pilot that only flew in and out of a base.
I have been constantly amazed at the numbers of people I have known or been told about that were Combat Infantrymen, Marine sniper or Recon. They were their hats covered with badges and pins. I know for a fact that those guys are few and far between compared to the others like myself were basically non combatents, even though we got shelled or shot at that does not count as actually being in combat.
On our base we had four gun towers, if you were staying at the base you got called up for guard duty. You arrived for guard duty, received your M-16 and bandolier of ammo and went to your assigned tower where there was an M-60 and cases of ammo. If you were on guard duty and an alert went up and you charged and fired the M-60 or your assigned M-16 you were not in combat, if you got injured by fire you were eligible for a Purple Heart but the same holds true if you fell out of the tower and broke your leg and there is probably someone getting disability for breaking his leg falling out of a gun tower.
Sometimes it depends on to which outfit you are assigned, if you were assigned to a high combat outfit as a clerk typist you might just by default get to wear the combat infantryman's badge, I'm sure that has happened. But whose to say that in some events even the clerk typist had to ruck up and give or receive fire while in the act of being overrun as some outfits were.
In the end, there are people that justify their actions in any manner you can think of, cheaters cheat and I was once told by an accountant that "Even the best people cheat on their Income Tax."

 

[Muley Gil]

My active duty time was on the East Coast and on the Atlantic Ocean, in the 1970s.

I spent three years in Afghanistan as a police advisor. One night, the Taliban fired mortars at the German military base 1 1/2 miles away from my quarters. We spent hours on full alert.

I carried a Bushmaster M4 that had the three shot burst option, which is more than a certain pol did. I shot the M249 and M240 machine guns.

The night before I flew down to Kabul to rotate home, the Taliban fired a mortar at my base, hitting about 100 yards outside of the walls.

But no, I'm not a combat vet. Not even close.

 

[Retired W4]

I was stationed at Ft. Rucker after Vietnam and while doing the in-processing thing I noticed my DD-214 listed a Distinguished Service Cross among my other awards. Now the DSC is the 2nd highest combat award (right below the MoH) and I don't remember getting one of those. I do have a DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) so I'm pretty sure some clerk/typist made a mistake. I had the nice admin lady make the correction.

Now if I wanted to embellish my resume I could have kept my mouth shut and gone on to say, Hey, my MoH got down graded to a DSC. That and $3 would get me a cup of coffee. Combat vets don't do that. At lease I don't.

Hell, maybe i did get a DSC and the citation got lost in the shuffle. Naaa!

 

[STCM(SW)]

OK, so I just checked that in Nam 4 US Navy Hospital Corpsman received the CMO.
Were they in combat? No, they received the MOH without using any firearm!

 

[LoboGunLeather]

I was stationed at Ft. Rucker after Vietnam and while doing the in-processing thing I noticed my DD-214 listed a Distinguished Service Cross among my other awards. Now the DSC is the 2nd highest combat award (right below the MoH) and I don't remember getting one of those. I do have a DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) so I'm pretty sure some clerk/typist made a mistake. I had the nice admin lady make the correction.

Now if I wanted to embellish my resume I could have kept my mouth shut and gone on to say, Hey, my MoH got down graded to a DSC. That and $3 would get me a cup of coffee. Combat vets don't do that. At lease I don't.

Hell, maybe i did get a DSC and the citation got lost in the shuffle. Naaa!

Lots of things got lost in the shuffle. Orders issued, never posted to personnel files. Orders issued, posted to the wrong personnel files.

Nearly all of my Vietnam decorations were simply mailed to my home of record (permanent address) along with the award citation and orders for the award. Some arrived months after the events involved, as things matriculated through the levels of bureaucracy.

Most of us arrived in Vietnam as replacements, then assigned to units with requisitions in for certain MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) and skill level (rank, training, special qualifications, etc). When we hit DEROS (Date Estimated Return from Overseas) we processed out, flew home, then received new assignments (again as replacements). We had no idea where we would end up, and no one in our old units had any idea where we might be.

Nearly all record-keeping was manually done; computerized records were way in the future. On a PCS assignment (Permanent Change of Station) we carried our 201 Personnel File, Medical & Dental Records, everything with us from the old unit to the new unit.

Some units kept good records, some were less than efficient. Some awards or decorations were within individual unit authority, some were limited to higher authorities. Tons of paperwork were produced every day, and not all of it ended up where it was intended to be.

Many decorations required a written recommendation supported by a witness statement, reviewed by the designated command staff officer, and approved only by the commander holding that authority. Some decorations were authorized simply by a unit commander's orders. As an example, my Combat Infantryman Badge was awarded by written orders that included about a hundred others listed by name, rank, and service number; probably something done weekly or monthly during that time period. Nothing particularly note-worthy at that time, just business as usual taken care of when the clerical people had the time on their schedules.

 

[Kanewpadle]

Brings back a lot of memories.

Right around 1966, the Air Force sent my dad to Fairchild AFB for survival school. Then to Panama for jungle survival.

He didn’t know where or why he was going. He was in communications. A radio man.

Then they sent him to Fort Bragg for jump training. Then he was really worried. They still didn’t tell him anything.

Then he was gone. He was one of the first Combat Controllers in country. Yes he was shot at several times. Even stepped on a Punji stick.

He went again in 67 or 68. Then he AGAIN in 1970. I still remember him walking on the tarmac towards the aircraft. My mom cried. The song on the airport intercom was Skeeter Davis. “The End of the World”.

War changed him. He became hard. He fought PTSD for years.

Because of my experience with my dad, I purposely avoided the Army and Marine Corp when I enlisted. I’m not ashamed to admit it.

I was well behind the lines fixing aircraft during Desert Storm.

So I have a great admiration for those that were “there”. I work with a few that were. They don’t speak of it much. And I don’t ask.

 

[Onomea]

...They don’t speak of it much. And I don’t ask.

This has been my experience as well with combat vets.

 

[jeffrefrig]

My older sister's husband was in some kind of special sniper outfit. Maybe 4 or 5 guys, stationed in where ever, far from Nam. They'd get orders, go over to where the "target" was, eliminate said target, then go back to their "safe" place. Sometimes in the States. Usually quite a bit closer, though. His family had no idea where he was at the time. He was never in "combat" just doing that. His discharge papers said Marine Private, or some such. I never saw it. That's all he did. He hated it, seeing the face of the target he eliminated. In his mid 70s, he still hates what he did; but he was a Marine for the USA. Is it combat if you're not getting shot back at? He doesn't care. Like dropping bombs from a flying machine. I guess that's combat? Not getting shot back at? I don't know. That's why I ask. I guess if you shoot or drop bombs it's combat; or is there a difference? There's no paperwork of what "Jerry" did besides serve in the USMC.

 

[fordson]

My only “combat duty” was when I was in a combat zone during Desert Storm. My unit was support, we repaired aircraft and helos in the field in forward areas. While we were issued side arms and had a Marine security section when retrieving downed aircraft, we were not a combat unit. Occasionally, we experienced rocket and mortar attacks, because we were with a larger unit that was the intended target. These attacks were without any significant results and probably done half-heartedly. The impression at the time was the Iraqis didn’t really want to hurt us, just annoy us, in which they did succeed.
I'm proud of my and my units service there, however, we were not, and and I am not, combat vets.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

There are formally recognized ones, and informal ones. I was told by a retired LTC in 1979 that in Vietnam McNamara forbade the use of infantry
for static defense, and the peculiar hybrid nature of that war gave the enemy lots of fixed targets and the people in them had to provide their own security.

 

[Retired W4]

Brings back a lot of memories.

Right around 1966, the Air Force sent my dad to Fairchild AFB for survival school. Then to Panama for jungle survival...

This is where your dad did jungle survival. Jungle Operations Training Center (JOTC), Ft. Sherman, Panama.

 

[Greyman50]

There are formally recognized ones, and informal ones. I was told by a retired LTC in 1979 that in Vietnam McNamara forbade the use of infantry
for static defense, and the peculiar hybrid nature of that war gave the enemy lots of fixed targets and the people in them had to provide their own security.

Was in RVN very late in the “ war”. Had an Infantry unit pulling guard duty on the perimeter and they were P.O.ed big time but they were the last unit in country. One did not have to be Infantry to be “ in combat” there, by chance one does not know this then guess it reverts to a vulgar saying we had, “ Vietnam, if you were not there shut the -=*= up”. Granted many if not most “ office types” never got shot at , had guard duty, had the “ opportunity to “ “ visit” many remote places there had it easy. Have seen a few posers that ran their mouths about being there when they never left the US. Others posers that were there but sat in an office in Saigon for their entire tour. One “ instance” was many years ago at the dedication of an RVN Veteran memorial at the museum in Newport News Va. when this guy loudly proclaimed he was “ there” and had all these medals , this and that. Well turned out a former POW and his his staff were also attending. Former POW was an elected official. When he heard this clown running his mouth we heard him ask one of his staff to “ see who this guy is”. About a hour later the staff guy handed the former POW a couple of pages of paper. Former POW confronted the clown exposing him to have been in an office in Saigon. Supposedly the clown went home and threatened to “ off himself”……..

 

[Retired W4]

Ah yes, to live the life of a REMF. It's all a matter of perspective. My second unit was like heaven. Flush toilets, hot and cold running hooch maids and a great O'club. Quite different from my first unit. With all that, it was not a safe space. Mortars and 122mm rockets would come in. A very good friend was shot down and KIA one night while checking out a VC probe of the perimeter. Yet, every day we would depart in support of the infantry, SF, arty or who ever needed us. Ours is not to wonder why, although I did a little of that. 50 some years later I know why.

 

[pistolpete10]

I served in Vietnam. Armored Cav, Armor, Intelligence Specialist. This means scout. We did serve with infantry units, we did patrols on the ground, along with ambushes on the ground. We were awarded the CIB, there was no CAB in 1968.
When we went of Search and Destroy missions in vehicles, were were like bait, we searched til they found us. Salute to those who served in combat!

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

The Army has a Combat Medic Badge since the medics are right up there with the ground troops.

 

[Greyman50]

Here’s the Army badges.

 

[Aggie1906]

Hopefully not much off topic. I was a US assigned to Germany., mid-late 60s) Troops rotated in all the time. Guys from Nam wore their division (or other) patch on their right sleeve. No idea if there was a procedure or process for that. Now and then a CIB would show up too. We were Combat Engineers. Anybody have thoughts on that, as in wearing unit patch you were in combat with on right sleeve?
Heck, years later I found out I could not even qualify to join the VFW. Thought that was to separate themselves from the GAR.

 

[pantannojack]

I am not a Combat Vet. I was "In Country" I Corps, SVN 1970, a REMF. I was wounded by a "friendly" cadre upset from lack of due respect for a sub set of Americans back in the World, as inflamed by news media. It was a fragging into a out door E Club whence a female floor show was performing. One Marine was killed, four Huey's responded for Medevacs. "It Don't Mean Nuthin." A Combat Vet faces a determined enemy under fire.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Wearing a patch from your combat unit on the right sleeve is a long established Army practice, I have never seen any regulations authorizing it.
I have read a number of stories by Vietnam veterans who said they were not welcomed by the VFW posts in their areas.