Are you considered less of soldier for not having a front line role?

DallasBlue

I have to wonder how old you are and who put that idea in your head. All you have to do is pick up a major newspaper any day of the week or turn on the nightly national news to hear how many soldiers were killed or injured while traveling in convoys by roadside bombs or who were shot by snipers at locations away from the front lines. And in Iraq, there are no clearly defined front lines. If you are a member of the military, or any support division of the military who's role it is to defend and support the freedoms we enjoy in the United States, you are by all means courageous, honorable, and worthy of all the integrety that goes without saying for being part of the defense of this country. Don't ever doubt for a moment that you are unworthy or any less important than your fellow soldier who is assigned to what you see as more dangerous or more patriotic than whatever assignment you may be assigned to. You are part of a team, a link in a chain that is vital in the defense and support of every other link in that chain. Do you think for a minute that any of your friends and/or team members at every other place of assignment haven't thought that very question. Listen to me as a veteran police officer who trains rookies fresh out of the academy. You matter. You were trained and if the time comes you will resort back to that training and you will peform as the soldier you were trained to be. You want be thinking about what lousy assignment you might think you have that week or month, you'll instinctively perform the survival functions you were trained to do. And although I don't know you, I can tell you that if you were placed in a situation where you could take action to save the life of an innocent Iraqi child knowing it would most likely cost you great injury or death, you and I both know you'd save the child without second thought. So don't clutter your mind with such nonsense anymore. You are a United States Soldier. You are honorable, respectable, brave and deserving of every good thought you've ever thought about great soldiers in your past. For you are one of them, no less. I don't know you, but you can be my partner any day. For I know you are a person of character, of courage, and honor; and willing to lay down your life for that of your fellow man. What greater man on this earth is there?

jordanjd4

in the civilian world, no.
but if you ask an infantryman the same question you may get called a REMF.
As an MP we see both sides.

lostinromania

I was a 74B (computer systems analyst) that never touched a computer in Iraq except to get my CO's email working once. My M249 got a nice workout though, and a sunburn...but she's ok in the arms of someone else that'll take care of her now.

mx3baby

No way! A soldier is a soldier regardless of his duty or rank.

Imagine the Military as a body. You can be major like the heart or the brain or you can be minor like a finger or hair. Each part of the body cannot all be the eye. Each part of the body cannot all be the nose. How can we function if that were the case? Same as the military. Each duty is special in helping the military run the way that it does.

God Bless ALL of our TROOPS!

dr strangelove

Yes and no. We in the rear are important, but where the metal hits the meat is where all the glory is.

mxbrown

Interesting....I've wondered myself.
I'm and AF reservist and have not yet been overseas or to a combat zone during this whole war on terror mission. I was activated after 9/11, but stayed in CA for 1 1/2 yrs. Active duty troops kept getting sent and I filled their job in their absence. Honestly, I feel like less of a "soldier."
Many of my subordinate troops have been to the "Area Of Responsibility/Iraq and/or Afghanistan" and I have not. I feel as if I haven't as much of a right to be respected as those who have been there. I also feel I owe it to every troop to go and do my job there, where it counts rather than here in the US. I plan to volunteer to deploy to Iraq, as soon as I get through probation at my civial job.
I'd like to continue but don't want to waste your time...

Less of a soldier...not if your were there.
If you've never went becuase you weasled out...? Yes

Only by front line soldiers.

Airplanegirl

No, they are all important. An army travels or doesn't travel because of all the behind the scene things that people like that are taking care of. :)

bert

NO,every soldier,no matter what his/her trade or job in the army is equally important'

MP US Army

I would have to say YES as long as you and I are both soldiers, I will say that you are a REMF and I am the man and you are not worth the boots you are warring.

If there is a navy, air force, or hippie or even a regular civilian around I will say that we are brothers in arms and we couldn't do it with out you and Hodji shoots at both of us.

Only soldiers can mess with other soldiers.

frchrisfgn

Of course not. What sort of question is that each member of a unit is as important as any other that is why it is called a unit, take it from me even the SAS needs cooks drivers parashute packers sign writers armourers store men regimental policemen need I go on

Isis

In all honesty the front line ones get the most admiration and are seen as the bravest whether they are there by choice or not. The truth is that is the perception of the public. When someone says they were deployed but as a mechanic, doctor etc it's just not seen as the same level of service as being right on the front lines in constant imminent danger. I guess a lot of people are not going to like my answer but I have to say the truth.

frenchy62

No, except in the eyes of the front-line people who think they are God in comparison to everyone else. But if the support people don't do their jobs, the front-line hero has no food, ammunition, fuel for his vehicle (or maybe the vehicle won't work)....one can go on and on.
True soldiers realize they are part of a "TEAM" and that they must work together to accomplish their mission.

rxqueenâ™¥ â€

Not at all. They are all important. They all work together.

turtle girl

I am grateful to ALL of our military personnel. It takes a whole community of people to make it work. I do not understand why we cannot pay them more though, that is a digrace!! there is all kinds of money for ridiculous pet projects, but our military lives at poverty level...awful.

paranthropus2001

think of a regiment as being a chain,you break a link in that chain, and its buggered! No mechanics..the vehicles and armour doesnt move!..No quarterbloke and your supplys dont get up1..No qualified service corps and your vehicles end up in a ditch!..No cooks, you starve!..No pay corps,empty wallet!..{what again!}..Every one is a link in that regimental chain,From the regimental Colonel to poor private grunt!..You may not win many medals in the company office,but your work might just save a few lives mate!

rosanamod

I don't think so. If you are doing something for our country, you play an important role because you're doing it and if they needed extra people, you'd probably be there anyway. Any man who wears a uniform and defends his country is brave in my book. No matter what you do. It's better than walking around holding up a sign and hiding out in Canada. Thank you for your bravery.

zukoi

My world

Nope. Those are the soldiers that keep the front line moving forward. Of course, you will receive you fair ration of crap from the front, but without you, they couldn't do their job.

Michelle J

not unless you have the chance to get out front and you choose not to.

wade e

Who cares, if you come back alive.

Come all ye young rebels, and list while I sing,
For the love of one's country is a terrible thing.
It banishes fear with the speed of a flame,
And it makes us all part of the patriot game.

And now as I lie here, my body all holes
I think of those traitors who bargained in souls
And I wish that my rifle had given the same
To those Quislings who sold out the patriot game.

-Patriot Game, Irish folk song

And in support of my smarta$$ed comment about the army, I have lost my bestfriend, 3 other friends and a cousin in Iraq. They died for a lie to make the rich richer. The army lied to them, told them they were fighting for America's safety.

Soldier#2

No, not at all we as soldiers all have specific jobs and each one of our jobs is important to completing our military mission. It is just a matter of choice and sometimes actual qualifications on what job we have in the military.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: