Counterpoint
Ok...since there's a fair amount of what seems to be civilian-bashing included in this thread, let's take a moment to examine how some folks end up interacting with military personnel. Perceptions go both ways, you know.
Take "Joe Smith," for example. He grew up in a smallish town just down the road from a major military installation. When he was in high school he had to compete for dates with high-paid (compared to what he could make in his after school job) military types who liked to date high school girls. They had cars, they had beer...you name it. Later, "Joe" marries and has daughters...who he's now afraid will get knocked up by some over-testosterone endowed military type from down the road who will then cop an immediate assignment elsewhere leaving him holding the bag. He's not a fan of the military, and feels that he has every good reason to feel that way. Never mind that his experience has been limited.
Overdrawn? Sure...but no more so than some of the rants about "typical" civilians I've seen here. It's those "typical" folks who some people seem to despise who pay for all your entitlements...and don't kid yourselves: military compensation these days is damned good...better than it ever has been and far better than you'll see in the real private sector. For the most part they pay without complaining (Nixon's "silent majority" comment has a great deal of validity) and certainly don't treat military members like they did sixty years ago. It's easy and tempting to cherry-pick your examples, and I could point out a number of military types I've seen over the years who were just getting over on the government...and an equal number of civilian types who did more or less the same thing.
But there are always the good ones out there, and the folks who may not fall into either camp but will offer you a military discount even though their store is in trouble and you make more than they do.
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