Yeah, so did John Glenn, Al Gore, John McCain and George McGovern. Being in combat means exactly one thing. It means you were in combat.
It does not imply character, patriotism, or good motives back in regular life.
These low lifes with operator breads cashed in on MAGA, then like Chick Fil A decided to flip the finger to the ones who created their success to go for a bigger market.
Posers.
My approach to these kinds of things is to give what I call “Default Respect” to everyone I don’t know. Everyone from that old man driving a bus to the woman I see getting on it.
Vets, and especially Combat Vets are included in that, and probably get a stronger version from me, just because I feel that they deserve it.
However, once you begin interacting with people and building an internal “dossier” on them, that “Default Respect” may be increased or strengthened, or...it may diminish or disappear altogether.
McCain is a good example of this for me. I gave him a huge amount of default respect over the years (He was my CO in a training squadron for a few months) but over the years, I came to despise that man.
How could I despise that man who spent years in captivity after being shot down in the service of his country, and was my commanding officer at one time?
Easy.
His actions merited my lack of respect. It is why nobody ever says “I am grateful to Benedict Arnold for his wartime service to his country...”