Attention Veterans!!
I knew that would get people’s attention. No, this is not a discount code or an offer for a free meal or a dedication to everyone’s service. This is something else and it is a shame I even have to write this, but here goes.
By the way, even if you aren’t a Veteran, please keep reading because it matters.
I am a Veteran, as many of you know. I have decades of experience. I have tons of stories. I spent over 25 years in uniform, and I retired with a lot of knowledge, skills, and abilities. Here is the heartbreaker for many Veterans…
All of that comes with a ticking clock on its relevancy. It also comes with a responsibility many don’t want to acknowledge.
There is a ticking clock…and mine is ticking, too. When you hang up your uniform for the final time, a clock starts ticking on how relevant you and your experience are. As that clock counts you further and further away from your last day in uniform, you become less and less relevant. Sorry folks, it’s true.
You immediately become less connected to your service and the daily “goings on” within the military. Uniform standards, standards of conduct, policies, equipment, tactics….they all continue to change after you leave. And as much as you want to stay connected and relevant, it all slips away. It is the nature of the beast.
I retired in 2019. I know nothing about DEI within the military, honestly, other than what I have read. I was an infantryman my entire career and only at the end of my career did the Army being to allow females to serve in that specialty. I have no direct experience with the impact that manning decision made on the force. The same goes for Ranger School. I went in 1996. That school looks NOTHING like it did when I went. Is it still effective in its current configuration? I really don’t know with any definitive data. I went to Jumpmaster school in 2000. Literally every piece of Army equipment that was in service when I went to school has been replaced with something newer. Everything changes.
Does that mean my experience is irrelevant? No. Does it mean my expertise is gone? For the most part, yes. Can I tell you what it was like in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2010-2013? Sure can. Does that make me an expert on Afghanistan today? Nope.
Father Time, much like Mother Nature, is undefeated. He keeps moving forward and all of us get left behind. If you left the military BEFORE 9/11, please tell all the stories you want, but you have ZERO familiarity with the military of today. If you still think it is OK to refer to someone as “Sarge”, you are extremely out of touch. If you left when the Army was still wearing grey digital camouflage, you’re out of it. If the Navy still had battleships, or the Air Force still had F-117s, or the Marine Corps still had tanks on active duty….I hate to break it to you folks, but your relevancy clock is ticking LOUD.
This is where the responsibility part comes in. We all have a responsibility to speak from a position of REAL perspective, not one perceived in our own minds about who we were and what we did while in uniform. I was never in the Navy. I speak with no authority on what happens in the Navy. I’ve spent lots of time in and around USAF aircrews and aircraft, so that is what I can speak on. Not with any expertise, mind you, but based on my exposure and experience. I was not a helicopter pilot, although I’ve spent hundreds of hours riding in them as a very informed passenger. I cannot tell you what it is like to manage both hands and both feet to keep that thing in the air.
I speak with familiarity but never with expertise on topics I am not an expert on. We as Veterans, have a responsibility to do that. “Military” experience doesn’t NOT give any of us carte blanche to speak as an expert on anything and everything within the Department of Defense.
I know that hurts a little bit, but we owe it to everyone to be responsible with this. Be realistic about who you were, what your level of responsibility was, how long it’s been since you “were there”, and what perspective that gives you. You may have been the best aircraft maintenance technician in the Air Force, but that does not make you an expert in Strategic Bombing. Or you may have earned a Silver Star as a Rifle Squad leader in Iraq, but that doesn’t give you the experience base to speak on Army manning and personnel management at the Pentagon level.
Conversely, just because you were a Colonel, or even a General, that doesn’t make you an expert on individual weapons within your service. A friendly reminder that retired Lieutenant General Hertling used the term “full semiautomatic” when describing firing an AR-15. There’s no such thing as “full semiautomatic” for those that don’t know, but that guy was a 3-Star General, so he was taken as an expert. Clearly, he is not.
Here is the second part of this: Veterans need to hold other Veterans accountable. While this may not be “Stolen Valor”, speaking as an expert when you clearly are NOT is pretty damaging for all of us and we need to keep each other in check. Don’t be afraid to call someone out on their bullshit if you know they are wrong. No one gets the “Vet Pass” just because they were in the military.
That also means when you get called out for speaking outside your expertise, you need to take the slap and step back a little. Don’t hide behind some sort of expected “professionalism” you feel you deserve. If you were still wearing a uniform and overstepped, the result would be similar. If you are going to use the uniform to act like an expert and you’re wrong, expect the same result as if you were still wearing it.
By no means am I saying to not offer YOUR OPINION. That is your 1st Amendment right and we all fought to defend that. However, expressing your opinion is a lot different than speaking with any sort of authority. Every American, as an American, can and should express your opinion whenever you feel the need. I do it all the time. This blog is exactly that: my opinion. You can ball it up and tell me to go f*ck myself if you want because it is my opinion, and you’re not obligated to agree with it.
I am not disparaging anyone’s service. I know someone will say that as a reflex. Please, be proud of your service. Again, tell your stories. Drink a beer at the VFW or the American Legion. Wear your Veteran baseball hat. Use your VA benefits for crying out loud.
I’m just saying to be responsible for what you say and how you say it.
In the end, everyone is going to do what they want. My only purpose is to encourage accountability and discourage people offering expertise they don’t have. Keep each other in line. Call out the bullshit. That includes me.