Jim Gourley asks in a guest post on Tom Ricks’ blog:
Military members have had to make difficult choices and regrettable sacrifices. But the majority of them have never had to make a payroll. They should not take for granted the plight of those that do.
I’ve seen a rash of anti-99% pics written by vets who seem utterly clueless about the world outside the US military. Take this one:
via The Chive
So low pay made him work harder and occupying Iraq and Afghanistan are valuable acts. Nevermind the fact that the military is a highly exclusive organization for which many citizens affected by the economy (and by the acts of a handful of privileged jerks) are unqualified.
The tone in which he speaks of “sacrifice” is unbecoming of a servicemember. He should be treating US civilians with humility instead of acting like he’s something special. By the way this letter and others like it are written, I have to conclude that the authors’ motivation has nothing to do with economic realities and everything to do with needing to feel cool at the expense of others ala high school.
ANSF: What It Will Take to Implement the ISAF Strategy
Courageous Restraint?
Hammers Can't Fix Computers
IED Metrics for Afghanistan
On the Hill
Opening the Final Columbia ROTC Forum
Winter Soldier
Jaylemieux 
Fuck you bunch of ungrateful, narrow minded douche-nuggets. Lets see you put on a helmet, and march your happy ass into a country, because “Uncle Sugar” told you to. Remember always that these men and women sacrificed THEIR RIGHTS, so that you could have your freedoms.
See what I mean? The irony in treating the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq–strategic disasters in which the US military fought enemies of its own creation while helping empty the national treasury to the tune of $792,000 per soldier per year (in 2010 dollars)–as an act that proves its own virtue is lost on this person. The fact that the US military does not, in a literal sense, protect the “freedoms” of US citizens and that servicemembers who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, by all available measures, in fact fostered sympathy for our enemies with their mere presence in those countries is lost on this person. The fact that Uncle [whatever] told you to is, all else equal, a terrible and archaic reason to invade a country is lost on this person. And not only does this person fail to recognize any of it, they are rude and spiteful in communicating their vapid, narcissistic, ill-reasoned point. And they do so with every certainty that they are representing the best image of the military.
Thank you for this post. I’m a Vet and openly admit that life was “easier” in the military — even when deployed. Simply put, the military is it’s own community sheltered from the rest of society. Their eyes are constantly on the mission and rarely look to what life “on the outside” is really like. This is also one of the biggest reasons why so many vets are now contemplating suicide when they return home. It’s not necessarily because of the things they saw while they were in combat… but more about the feeling of incredible loss once they return from losing their jobs while serving and facing incredibly inflated cost of living expenses that they never had to deal with when they were gone. Yes, they are clueless while deployed… very sad…