Thanks, but I don’t deserve it

It’s just an idea… The idea that we as desert Vets have to wait until we’re in our eighties or nineties to talk about our experiences, how they affected us then and how they still tend to manifest in our daily lives today is absurd. I earned the right to be called a veteran, a combat veteran, I deserve to wear it with pride, with honor and without the guilt. You may know the guilt I speak of, God Rest Their Souls.

A certain visual, a smell, sound or even just the dry heat of a mid-summer day can remind me of walking through the desert or patrolling through a city or a town that for some reason was built in the middle of a god forsaken desert. If I must learn to live with the unstoppable memory blips every single day of my life, then I also get to accept the accolades that come with it. I will proudly use my 20% discount at the golf course, my 10% discount on my dinner out and Every Single Other bit of appreciation that others show, I shall accept without guilt. But, for some reason, it remains difficult to do so.