I guess he took offense to that because he charged me and was then introduced to a couple nice rights to the nose.
(Good beer story) :-)
No one who has not been there could imagine combat (including me), any more than they can understand being one of two guys with hose nozzles in hand chasing the fire off of 3200 gal of JP4 while standing in the puddle (been there, done that!). All the people around us supported us, no one shot at us. Firefighting may have been good adrenaline-rush material, but nowhere near combat.
Friends from the era include a USMC Sargeant Major. a Navy SEAL, Sherrif's deputies, and a crew of firefighters. Some of the 'older guys' I knew did go to 'Nam, but they didn't talk about it much, and we didn't push them.