I’m a Veteran!

Even with this, it's hard to talk about, like ah, my family, my, my civilian friends I, a lot don't, I don't tell them a lot of what went on because one, I'm scared they wouldn't believe me, be like, whatever you know that doesn't happen. Or you know, two, you know they just, I just don't think people, not my, just my family but people here, living here in Canada would ever really understand what went on there. Like I really hate, and this is probably the main reason why I came here, I hate that moniker, ‘peacekeeping'. Because they made it to sound like, "Oh you know it's okay they're not going into harms way they're just peacekeeping cause there's peace there." Well if people would pick up a book or read a newspaper or go and look at information about the former Yugoslavia from 1992 to you know the late 90's, there was nothing but death, destruction and mayhem there it happened daily, nightly, hourly and by the minute. And there was no peace to keep there, there was no peace happening there. Cyprus yeah okay they had been established for a long time, but incidents happen there. But Croatia and Bosnia it was a totally different story. They should have never given it the moniker ‘peacekeeping', because a lot of what the people seen there, what Canadian soldiers seen there was, something that I think the majority of them if not all of them have never seen in there life. And we get called down back here by you know citizens of Canada who say we didn't do anything and you know a lot of people around here look at me when I say, " Yep I'm a Veteran." They go, " A Veteran? You're not a Veteran." No, I am a Veteran, I served." And even my own who I consider my own who are older and served in areas where, a World War or some type of war was declared say we're not, we're not Veterans. Well how did, let's say a Korean Vet feel when he came back and World War Two Vets told him, "No you can't come into this Legion. You're not a Veteran." And then for have that person turn around and say, "Well you're not a Veteran you didn't serve in a war."
Well yeah I served in a war, how much more difficult is it to serve in a war, and be told that you cannot fire back unless fired upon but watch people being shot daily if you don't see, or know that they've been shot daily, or that people are dying daily. Or that houses and people are not living in a peace, in peace and to have to watch it. What's more difficult? To me, what would be easy, easier, I imagine would be to fight in a war against the enemy that's coming onto you, than having to stand there in a war, and watch it. And be a full participant and a witness to that destruction but only to witness it. To not, to be able to fully stop it. And I think that's what bothers me the most, especially when people say I'm not a Veteran. I'm a Veteran.