I do try to present a balanced opinion in these postings. What I mean is not all negative or all positive but the stuff of everyday life. As I have mentioned several times these postings are turning out to be more of a journal of my life than anything else. And yes there are portions heavily redacted. A term we have all come quite familiar with regarding political proceedings. It is all a part of that oh so important transparency we are all demanding. That's a good thing as we are being informed we aren't being told everything, so that is transparent. In my case, a bit of non-fiction may be included, but it is as I remember it so that makes it the truth. That's how that works.
I am often inspired to write about some posting I have seen on Facebook. I view Facebook as a mirror of America, although that mirror is certainly distorting the picture a bit thanks to sponsorship. But still, the comments and pictures do show me the thoughts of at least a part of the general public. This morning I saw one concerning "cold war" veterans. I have to smile about that. I'm a cold war veteran myself and I've even received a certificate suitable for framing stating that fact. Yes, I did frame it and hung it on the wall. Makes me smile whenever I see it again.
I smile because it is a "war" that we never fought, but we might have. I smile because it doesn't make you a war hero. This post shows a plaque from the Santa Maria Valley. That's in California explaining that. Reminds me of the Nobel prize given to Barack Obama for participation. HIs award states plainly he made "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." He didn't actually do anything, but he tried. He did his job. That's how I feel about the cold war veteran designation. Didn't really do anything other than our job. It is what we signed up to do. It really wasn't a war. It was a time of "extreme world tension" as that plaque says. Funny, I didn't feel all stressed out at all, no tension at all. Well, except for the times I was getting yelled at by my superiors for some minor infraction or another. Yeah, I need a haircut and my bed isn't made right.
I see this as a reflection of the everyone is a hero thing. It's a pet peeve of mine, this claim to being a hero. Real heroes are far and few between. They certainly don't sign up to be one, although these days that seems to be all it takes. Are you a volunteer firefighter? You're a hero. Did you join the police or the military, you're a hero. Have you done the job you got paid to do? You're a hero! Everyone is a hero. No, I'll be the first to tell you, I'm no hero by any stretch of the imagination. Have I ever done anything heroic? If I did, I don't know about it. And that's the deal, if I don't know, it didn't happen. I have however tried to do my best at any given moment. Sometimes I did better than others and sometimes not so good at all, but hey, I'm just a regular guy.
It's something I have written about a couple times. I did serve for twenty years. Yes it was during that "cold war." Cold war starting being used a great deal in 1947. The phrase had been coined earlier and scholars debate just who gets that credit. The cold war was in response to the atomic bombs that we used to end WW2. Yes, they were atomic then, not nuclear. The fear was that Russia would use that technology after having received it from the traitors Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. You can't trust those commie! Over the years "nuclear proliferation" became a growing concern, the stress was building. In the late 1960's there were the SALT treaties. Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. The issue was, how much do you need for defense? No one was accusing anyone of being willing to use them first, but we did need to limit the number you could have for defense. A political thing you know. All very diplomatic.
So yes, I served during the cold war. I was still serving in 1987 when the Berlin wall was torn down. It was an easing of tensions, or so that is what was reported. Ronald Reagan, the great communicator was responsible for that. I retired from the service in 1993, just two years after the "end" of the cold war. We were victorious! Well, sorta, Russia collapsed, the commies had to break up their " Socialist Republics" That wasn't the only war I saw the end too however, I was there in 1973 when we withdrew the last of our troops from Vietnam. That war was over for us. There were quite a few dust ups around the globe during those years, 1971-1993. The gulf war being the last war I was involved with. I did receive medals and ribbons for participating in that. Didn't seem like much of a war to me, I was never in any real danger at any time. Never fired a single shot. I had the same experience in that cold war.
War hero? No I am not. I'm just one of thousands that served in the armed forces over that period of time. My service is undistinguished. I do not feel any shame for that, any regret, only thankful that I didn't have to "give the ultimate sacrifice" as getting killed in battle is so often called. Yes, I signed up knowing that was a possibility, but that didn't mean I was willing to make a sacrifice. I wasn't offering my life, the enemy was going to have to take it! My intention was to take theirs first.
The cold war? It wasn't a war at all. If it was , it is the most humane war every fought, zero casualties. Google says there may have been as many as 382 American casualties. They offered no explanation for that statistic. The only thing they mentioned was it is difficult to define a "war." Well I can clear that up, extreme world tension isn't a war. All we needed to fight that was some fidget spinners and a safe space. Not what I used to ease my tensions but all that is another story. That's where faction and non-fiction may get confusing. I will be redacting portions of that story.
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