So, he's not a REAL vet? FQ....did you serve at least 180 consecutive days on active duty?
Nope, and I've never pretended to be one either. Four years of ROTC and thats it. I do love the army as I owe them my education and a whole lot of growing up. I was in the magic class of '91. The Cold War was over, we won Dessert Storm,Congress was busy spending (excuse me investing) the "peace dividend" and the army was down sizing whole divisions. They didn't need a whole bunch of new butter bars. It was cheaper to cut us loose than train us and pay us to staff units that no longer existed.They gave us a choice (except for the cadets who had gotten RA rather than reserve or NG commisions, them, they wanted). Either walk away with a full ride, or accept the commission you were promised (and earned BTW). I hesitated a patriotic 30 seconds before joining the majority of my classmates before saying "so long and thanks for the fish". In retrospect I regret it sometimes as it does make you wonder how you would have done at the job you trained for four years. It wasn't just cadets either. One of my compatriots (she was 25 but a freshman) was an E-6 who been given a $15k bonus NOT to reenlist. Of course she banked it and got an ROTC shcolarship instead, but no one said the army made sense. As it is, I signed on the dotted line, trained and was prepared to go, but I just got lucky, or unlucky, depending on you POV.
FQ13