11 OF THE BEST VETERAN MEMES THAT PERFECTLY SUM UP VETERAN HUMOR
MEMES! Memes have pervaded our lives and psyche and become a great form of expression to make a point or tell a joke. Veterans have been no exception, and social media giants like Pop Smoke and Decelerate Your Life have generated some amazing content for active-duty military members and Veterans. Here's just a small collection of Veteran memes that we've selected which sum up Veterans' lives pretty well.
You're Gonna Love These 11 Veteran Memes
Awkward Conversations with Civilians
1. When someone starts a conversation with, "I almost joined the…"
Dude. I mean, really. Dude. I DON’T care. This statement is usually followed up by something mildly insulting such as, “But I just don’t think I could blindly follow orders. But you know, good for you,” or some completely delusional tough guy bravado to compensate such as, “but the second a drill sergeant yelled at me, I would have punched him in the face.” Yeah, bro, sure you would. More like this:4 Tips For Veterans When People Start to Ask About Your War Experience
2. Vets getting ready for a trip to the commissary.
Real talk, Vets can't go to anything military affiliated, such as the commissary or the VA, without wearing something to let the others around know that they were in the military or what specific unit they were in. We just HAVE to flex on each other. “What unit did you serve with?” “How many deployments did you have?”
3. Most Vets aren’t heroes.
Oh boy, here comes some controversy. Buckle up, comment section warriors because I’m about to say something you might not like. Most Vets aren’t heroes. I really don’t think we should cheapen that word for those who truly do go above and beyond the call of duty. Most Vets just did their job. I'm not trying to put down anyone’s service. If you served faithfully and took care of your people, that's very commendable ,and you should be very proud. When it becomes a problem is when folks who didn’t do much start expecting special treatment or deference just for having served and use it as a sort of trump card in conversations. I’m not even talking about those who didn’t see combat. If you served, you know that most people don’t, and it's really all down to chance who does. You can do heroic things outside of combat. I’m talking about the folks who joined, complained the whole time
4. Yes, but one time in Iraq I...
I’m definitely guilty of this one. Of course we want to talk about it because it was an important and formative time in our lives, but in a professional setting, it has to have limits. I’ll share some great advice that a former team leader gave me when he joined a prestigious company after getting out.
- You can mention that you served, and people will be generally interested or say thanks.
- You can be proud of what you did.
But then it's time to stop talking about it. Save it for your Vet friends, family, or a therapist. I’m not telling you to bottle things up, but don’t be the guy that shoe horns it into every conversation.
Job Hunting
5. Look out corporate America! Here I come! Pay me lots of $$$!
When you’re in the military and have gained some rank and responsibility, you feel like a total boss compared to your civilian friends who have a lot less life experience at the same age. Everyone tells you that it looks great on a resume and corporate America loves hiring Vets.
6. Corporate America doesn’t care about your military, rank, awards, or achievements.
Then you get out, have an identity crisis, and realize that, while businesses do like Vets, they have no idea what all the jargon on your resume means. They have no idea how to translate your military leadership to civilian leadership, and you're clueless as to why people aren’t hiring you at the mere mention of your service. You have to learn, most of the time painfully, that you have to be a desirable candidate first, and your military experience is a plus that MIGHT set you ahead of competitors. Not the other way around.
7. MOS career translator.
I have a Masters Degree in Transnational Security. You know what comes up in LinkedIn job searches? You guessed it. Mall cop. When I was transitioning from active duty, I was coming off a deployment as a JTAC with 1st Recon. We took the little job search test based on skills and personality profiles. And what do you suppose was the job most suited to me? Special operations officer. Oof. Yes, I know that Marine Recon is not considered “special operations.”
8. The best I can do is, "Thank you for your service."
Then I started applying to jobs with all these merits on my resume and the most frequent comment I got in interviews was, “So you have no real leadership experience?” I guess it was all pretend. Who knew? Like I said before, be a good job candidate first, then mention your service experience. More like this: 3 Things That Are Messing up Your Job Search & Tips to Help!
9. When Veterans find out that civilians don’t get off Presidents’ Day, Columbus Day, or Veterans Day off.
You gotta love all those federal holidays! Nothing like a random holiday that you probably don’t even know the meaning or origin of to give you a long weekend. We don’t know how great we have it until we leave. More like this:The Meaning of Veterans Day: A Combat Veteran’s Perspective
Your Poor, Aching Body
10. Kidney and liver damage, 20 years of joint pain, 20 years of being prescribed Ibuprofen at the TMC.
The struggle is real. One problem compounds the other, and it just seems to get worse. When you’re young and made of rubber, you can drink all night, wake up, and crush morning PT. Five-mile run in full kit? No problem. I didn’t even stretch. Then you hit 30 and, oh boy, it all starts to catch up to you. Hangovers start lasting two days. The years of wearing a full kit and hiking over mountains has ground your knees, hips, and lower back to a fine powder. You eat anti-inflammatory drugs like candy, and your gut is never the same. But everything hurts, so you have to keep taking it. I know a lot of folks don’t like yoga or stretching but please, I beg you, start early and save yourself!
11. When the VA doc asks you, “How long has your back been hurting?”
Pro-tip: Go to medical and get every ache and pain documented, or the VA will leave you out to dry when you get out. We all have long-term injuries after years of living rough, and most of us tried to hide them so we wouldn’t get kicked off a team or miss a deployment. Then it catches up to you. Take care of your body and teach your younger team members to do the same or you’re going to be the dude leaving the VA with a hearing aid, cane, and a bag of meds that looks like you were trick or treating by the time you’re 40. We are achy, we are cranky, we talk about the wars constantly. We all do it. I hope these gave you a little chuckle if you can relate. Remember that these are all in good fun. Good luck on the job hunts and please, please, please do some yoga for your creaky bones.
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