When Is a Gulf War Vet, NOT a Gulf War Vet?

This past weekend I finally had the chance to go to the Angier Bike Fest in Angier, North Carolina with my biker sister, "Dewdrop." This is something we'd been trying to do for the past three years, and every time I planned the trip it rained. Now, call me silly or whatever, but I just can't see going to a bike fest or bike rally in a car or a truck - I mean, it's a BIKE RALLY, fer cryin' out loud, and if you go to it you should be ON YOUR BIKE! For that reason I was unable to make the '09 and '10 Bike Fests, but this year the Weather Gods smiled on me and I was finally able to make the trip.

And it was well worth it. For a little bitty town, Angier put on a pretty good bike fest, and there were lots of bikes there worth walking around looking at. They also had a "drive-in" bike contest, live bands, an auction, vendors, food booths, and things like that. Like I said, for a town the size of Angier, they did themselves proud.

"Dewdrop" and I were taking a break from walking around, sitting on the steps to a building in the fest area resting in the shade, when I saw a guy walking past wearing a vest on which was the same "GULF WAR VETERAN" patch that I have on my vest - which I was wearing at the time, of course. So I called out to him and got his attention, and the conversation started out like this:

ME: "Hey, Gulf War!"

HIM: "Hey, how ya doin?"

ME: "I see you were in the Gulf War."

HIM: "Yeah, I was."

ME: "Where at?"

HIM: "Huh?"

ME: "Where were you?"

HIM: "South Dakota."

Say what? South Dakota?

Turns out that the guy was working in the missile fields at the time, and the closest he got to the war zone was watching it on CNN.

To give the guy credit, I'll agree with what my sister said about the guy at least being honest enough to admit that he wasn't really in the war zone instead of lying about it; for that, sure, I'll give him credit. But it still bugs the living shit outta me that this guy would have the balls - or the discourtesy - to wear a patch proclaiming himself to be a Gulf War Veteran when he wasn't in the war. Sure, he was in the Air Force at the time of the war, but that doesn't make him a "Gulf War Veteran." What that makes him is a "Gulf War ERA Veteran," and there's a big difference between the two.

A BIG difference.

The thing that bugs me the most about it, I guess, is that this guy is falsely representing himself to those that don't know any better, and he's riding on the coattails of the guys who really were in the war - those who were "in country," dodging SCUDs, bullets, and all that other crap that was flying around through the air at the time. In short, he's trying to take credit for something that he didn't do, something that he had no part in.

And to me, that puts him one or two levels above whale shit.

But in all honesty I have to say that it didn't dampen the day for me, I still had a great time at the bike fest with my sister, and as it turns out that was the worst thing that happened to me all weekend long. I didn't get rained on going up, I didn't get rained on while there, and I didn't get rained on coming home, so I guess I got off pretty lucky.

Life is good, and I'm glad for it!

IHC