Was the mission during the Cold War peace or war? Do Cold War veterans have less to be proud of than combat veterans?

Frankly, I find the attitude that some have toward Cold War veterans to be totally offensive. Apparently, some of these people think that the world was just one big happy party prior to 9/11 --- they forget that the Cold War wasn't always "cold" ...

The Cold War was a standoff between the USSR and the NATO FORCES deployed in Europe. It was a time when we were installing Nuclear Weapons and watching every move made by the Eastern Block. Though there were few Units actually stationed on the boarder, we were within 30 kilometers from the boarder and had units moving all along the 1 kilometer zone. Our objective was to take positions in the Fulda Gap and prevent at all costs being overrun by the Eastern Block Forces. And if need be to die in position to allow time for the rest of NATO FORCES to reinforce us and have the forces in the states deployed to Europe to help defend our position in Europe. We were to stay in position and die in place if it came to being overrun. To say it was a peaceful time is in my mind an understatement. During the 70's and 80's when I was to serve two tours overseas for a total of 4 1/2 years we were alerted countless times and move to our prestageing positions and wait for further orders and issuing of live ammo and provisions. In 83, I believe we were a stone throw away from going to war as this was the first time we were waiting in our motor pool for our live ammo to be delivered to us even before we reached our prestageing positions. The looks in the senior officers faces and the fact that I was the Company Commanders APC Driver, as this was prior to receiving and training with the Bradleys gave me insight and knowledge to the happenings of that day. We also had Russian spies that were active in our areas of operations and postings. We had been informed to be on the lookout for anyone who looked out of place and was watching our operations. There were soldiers killed and taken and some even turned into traders giving out any information they could for what ever deal they could make. We also had active terrorist within our areas as well, as some will remember the assasination atemp on Alexander Haigh. But we were not given medals on The War Against Terrorism! In fact a soldier on guard was given either a night stick, or his M16, and a five round magazine of live rounds which were not allowed to be loaded into the weapon but remain in his ammo pouch. The only time the weapon could be loaded was after the third attempt to stop and identify the individual or group with no success. Then once loaded you still had to challenge them once again before deadly force could be used. Now I want to say the I said he and not she, as at that time we had no females within our ranks at Basic or at our Duty Station. The only female soldiers were in the hospital or in finance or one of the higher secretary jobs. We didn't even have any working in the mess hall. So the time I spent in Germany was not so peaceful as one would think. Now the Soviet Block Units were locked and loaded. They had machine guns pointed towards us and we could not make any jestures towards them so as not to provoke an incident. I saw many soldiers injured doing their jobs to enclude myself and there were even some deaths. That's the real picture that we were under. Yes we went to the gausthauses and drank our beer and enjoyed ourselves when we could as did every generation that served. To say we had it easy and knew of no harm is a false statement and one that personally offends me as a veteran who serve his nation on their terms and rules. I have no disrespect for anyone who served our nation honorably and received an Honorable Discharge from service! We all had a job and we can't control the times when wars start or end, but we all served and I trained my men well as none of them died in any of the Wars that followed my being medically discharged honorably. And to that I thank the Lord above. I would only say that our government has done us Cold War Veterans an injustice by not allowing us the National Defense Medal, nor signing the petition for a Cold War Service Medal as every other conflict has two to three medals for service in them.

The Cold War was an ERA, which consisted of numerous Conflicts, including most notably the Korean War & Vietnam.

Just like the Middle East ERA consisted of numerous Conflicts, including Gulf 1, OEF & OIF.

We cannot look at War, let alone Hot War as a series of on/off events like a lightswitch. It is more like a wave with ups & downs.

In essence, since WWII, we have never been at Peace. To say we have, is misleading. We have been at a constant state of readiness with what we touted as an Enemy, one of equal size, equal capability, and equal willingness to use force. How is that not War in Actuality?