Pills Hard to Swallow: Veteran Doesn't Make Good Person

Uh oh. We know we're about to get a flood of hate mail, but eh f*** it. We love the brotherhood. If you put on that uniform and served honorably, hell to the mf'ing yeah. You have a special place in our hearts. Let's stop pretending that it makes you a good person though. Being a veteran doesn't make you a good person.Anyone that served can tell you, if they are being honest, that there was a shitbag in the unit that they wished was not there (it might even have been us).Being a good person is more than the summation of what you did over 4 or 20 years. You could be a great dude or lady in the military and get out and be a total asswagon civilian. We'll even venture to go as far as saying that if you're one of those veterans that has a visceral hate for civilians and you vent about it on Facebook all the time, you're probably that guy/gal we all hated. We'd watch your ass in a firefight and risk our lives to save you all the same, but you're not coming to our kids birthday party.Hell, we knew a guy, and we're not gonna name drop, who was a straight up an absolute gangster in war. Put him in the civilian world. He was an asshole. Love him to death, nobody we'd rather have next to us in a firefight, but a total asshole back in the civilized world.Being a veteran doesn't make you a good person any more than driving a truck makes us cowboys.It's a great starting point. It's a great place to learn selflessness, courage, honor...etc but just showing up doesn't relegate you to sainthood.Now you can choose to get mad and angry and send your hate mail, or you self-reflected like an adult and realize that even being a priest doesn't necessarily make you a good person either. Or you can totally ignore us because this isn't news to you and you've known this truth for a long ass time.Shitbags come in all shapes and sizes and careers.And think about this, if you disagree and hate us. We're veterans and you hate us, so obviously we're still right.