Amen, friend. They sure didn’t mind the payments when folks were deploying to Afghanistan and Iraq again and again and again...or even when I was spending half of every year in Saudi Arabia patrolling the No-Fly zone.
Kipling was right.
But when it comes to fightin’, Lord! they’ll shove me in the stalls!
For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, wait outside”;
But it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide...
Here is the point to make of all points. Today's LIFER meaning one with a twenty year vested time in service has not seen peacetime conditions as such. Since Gulf War One our troops have been in an ongoing war time deployment rotation level. Even the Cold War was not as demanding on deployments as is today. Gulf War One was just the beginning. After Gulf War one the troops especially once career oriented many were rewarded with being kicked out of the service. Those remaining began deployments to places like Bosnia etc. Oh that's right how silly of me. Congress never declared combat there or anywhere else since WW2 to be an actual war. /sarcasm