No one is discounting your experience. But BTW virtue signaling is something liberals do...and something conservatives call them on.
Using your own experience to brag is what is known as virtue signaling.
No one is "discounting your experience." If you have experience with the DOD that others at FR don't have, I think we would all benefit from that.
Using experience to explain something is not virtue signaling. Virtue signaling is, for example, claiming that I am better than you because I drive an electric car to save the environment (I don't and it doesn't), or looking down on another because I buy all my clothes from the natural fiber store (again, I don't).
I don't know here you got 'bragging' from my comment. But I am not going to battle stations over it.