EITS,
You have me at a disadvantage sir. You seem to know who I am, which is unfortunate, as I cherish the thin veil of anonymity that this forum affords us all. i on the other hand only know what you do, and that we served in the same theatre of war recently, at the same time. By all accounts, and all of my comments, you and your compatriots served well and honourably. For the record, I am certain that you have never been on my direct chain of command.
I also note from your posts that you are in a leadership position. As such, you must surely have known that your "I would not want to be in your CofC" comment was inflammatory in the extreme. That is a hard thing to hear from anyone - and harder still to hear anonymously . I would like to think that you made the comment without the full knowledge of how extraordinarily dismissive it was. If that is not the case, feel free to PM me and we can discuss further.
Eye In The Sky said:
I guess the difference between you and I, in part, is that I feel some compassion to you, both as a taxpayer and a still serving member who was injured during service (I only mentioned my back, because it is the only one I receive a pension for at this time). Regardless of peacetime, volunteered for the crunchie trade, etc. It was in the service of your country.
I certainly feel compassion for any soldier who has been injured in the line of duty. For those that know me beyond an avatar or a reputation, this has been been true for my entire career. I would ask that you not be so quick to judge my comments as showing a lack of compassion for those I have served for my entire adult life. I also acknowledge that you served your country...as have teachers, first respondents, public servants, scientists, day care workers etc.
You didn't actually answer my question on what is 'enough'. If you have any thoughts on what is 'enough', I'd like to hear them. Or, what is 'too much'. You've answered more like a politician to this point, not really saying what is enough but that it should be good enough.
We have a conundrum here, I have yet to hear what "enough" looks like. i have merely stated that it feels like an unrealistic expectation. Can you tell me what "enough" looks like for your injury, or even mine?
I didn't think there was any value of reacting to your 'spare me' comment, but again...I am glad I'm not in your CofC, if a back injury that could mean 'retirement spent in a wheelchair' isn't worthy of your compassion. :not-again:
Please refer to my comments above.
I'd honestly prefer to spend retirement with my wife, who I leave home alone quite often, in the canoe, or hiking or travelling or something other than her pushing me around and helping me get onto the toilet. I know...selfish of me.
I am not sure how this relates to the care, support, or pension that we receive. Are you suggesting that there is some combination of medical, social and financial treatment that will change your diagnosis?
In closing, I have had to think a bit about how I would respond to this post. I veered between taking extreme umbrage, and shrugging it off.
I have hopefully adopted somewhat of a middle course. If you are personally offended or affronted in some way by my response (as opposed to seeing it as a countervailing view in a discussion board), I can only hope that you will take it to PMs.
With respect,
PPCLI Guy