How would anyone know who is a combat vet from a non combat one by just running into them in public ? Those 8 guys in the rear keeping grunts supplied, transported, treated when they were wounded are just as important as the grunt humping the rifle in the bush. You can't fight if you can't get there or run out of ammo.
A late family friend (AF vet from the 50s...he was part of the technical team that examined the first MiG-15 we got our hands on) made the same point to me back when clerk-typist Al Gore was running for President...”when you don’t have that level of support behind you, you wind up with disasters, like the Japanese armies that starved to death!”
yea because the guy who issues bed sheets out is in just as much harms way getting dirty as the infantry who goes out on patrol , give me a break.
Also I know one vet who issued bed sheets out for 3 years. He wears his vet hat, and wants his discount flies his Dominion flag, and now claims disability. His disability is IBS. Like hell does he get the same respect as those guys who are in harms way