Posted on Feb 28, 2015
MAJ Operations Officer (S3)
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20091111 army afghanistan deployment
My entire military career has been served with a Nation at war. As we draw down in theater, as people enter and leave the service, the ratio of non-patchers with patchers will increase.

Though I do not have an issue with it personally, I am concerned that at some point the patchers vs non-patchers will split into camps and that there might be a superiority complex that develops with those that have deployed on many various levels. I had seen this play out in the Pentagon (and they mostly fixed it) and I have seen this in line units to a lesser degree.

Any suggestions on how to address at the Soldier/Leadership levels to avoid this from becoming systemic? Anyone else see this mindset leeching into our Soldiers or am I just overly paranoid?
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CW5 Desk Officer
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Edited 10 y ago
I have seen it, MAJ (Join to see), and leadership can certainly play a role in putting the kibosh on that thinking. On the individual level, I never had a combat patch, but I didn't allow that to define me or my service. I soldiered on, did my best, and tried to prove myself every day, on every task. I think "being all you can be" - with or without a patch - is the best way to answer a superiority complex based on deployments.
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