re: What motivated you to join the military?

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I guess this says a lot about you and more about me...Apologies for the way I came across.

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We're cool, Navy. I get taken aback when civilians think of guard/reserve service as it was back in Vietnam or pre-2001 - I was just floored by a fellow vet - Navy at that - taking that position. Now, I had a civilian job that had me traveling a bit during the aughts - but when I was getting ready to come home from Iraq in mid-2009 - I did the math - I had spent 1 night in 4 away from home since I joined in 1988. That's back down to about 1 in 5 now, after 26 years.

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When I got out and returned to La, I was very bitter..It seemed like people were complaining about things that were as mundane as "deploying" to Ft Polk, or something goofy like that. I spent/am spending my GI Bill plus some to go through school, and some weekend warrior gets a free ride.

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Nobody rides for free - and there are Regular Army/Navy/Air Force people who dodge deployments and bitch, too.

I hope you do better and feel better about things - if you're paying attention to recent and past events with veterans' affairs, we can only count on each other and our families - the powers that be have not/are not/will not take care of us unless we hold them accountable.