Are you prior service or just a civilian employee? Almost nobody I know would open up to a civilian emoyee, especially at the VA.
Many will share things to other vets that their own families don't know about them, so to think they'll open up to a VA civilian is almost laughable. Do you think many of us actually respect the VA? Seattle would have ducking killed me, or at least I'd be missing most of my lung. You think I'd ever bother telling anyone there anything personal after that?
I'm not even in the inner circle if you will of CIB earners. I got stuck doing a Pogue job in a Pogue unit, and didn't do a damp thing but get cancer that kept me from ever deploying again. And I still was tighter with combat vets than most anyone. So yeah, you won't hear a.lot from the outside looking in.

Everyone is different, but many, if not most miss the people they were with, even if the shared experience sacked that's what made their bond all the stronger.

The VA is a joke no matter where you go!

To share a little insight. Some have heard me say this before. It is true that you miss the brotherhood formed over there. I can't even explain it to somebody who isn't in. But when I was in Afghanistan, all I thought about was coming home. When I finally got home all I wanted to do was be at my FOB in AFG. Just something about it that anybody who never deployed as a soldier will understand, which is why I don't understand why they try.

By the way, just because some folks stay inside the wire the whole time doesn't make them any less worthy of the pay or more importantly the honor. To the dickhead who made a comment about it.

I agree. I remember a major in Mosul have a mortar round drop in on him. Probably never knew what hit him.

Maj. John P. Pryor, 42, of Moorestown, N.J. died Dec. 25 in Mosul of wounds suffered when a mortar round impacted near his living quarters. He was assigned to the 1st Medical Detachment, Forward Surgical Team, Fort Totten, N.Y.

http://projects.militarytimes.com/valor ... or/3880374

This "dickhead" served 6 years in the USMC as an infantryman. The original comment was about missing war. In my experience people who've been shot at don't miss it. Then the thread turned toward the camaraderie built with the men around you --- that's completely different.

Vets who meet me at the hospital, for some reason, know I served without really asking. They ask anyway, then we get to taking. These guys tell me lots of stuff, I tell them lots of stuff.
I work with lots of people who give a whole lot of themselves in order for vets to have better care, then three are those who don't. The only difference between a civilian hospital and the VA is the civilian hospitals are able to weed out the blockheads way easier. It's a constant battle making up for those dockers who don't give a damn.

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After I got back I gave up hunting deer and elk. It's just not the same for me, and when I last tried I really creeped out my hunting mates cause at night I had to keep the perimeter secure.
And while I do miss my mates, I do NOT miss the blood, sounds and smells. This Memorial day past my grand daughter asked me if I was a hero. I told her no, I came home in one piece, the heros I knew didn't. One day I hope she understands what it's all really about.