AUTHENTICITY

Real combat vets often discuss the veracity of fellow soldiers war stories. Most true combat vets, those that actually fought, on the front lines, rarely talk about it. Here is one a friend passed to me.  

 "I tell people I don't really see a person as a combat vet unless they have a CIB, (combat Infantry's Badge or a Purple Heart or a Bronze Star or better. I often see everyone's DD214 (this is the official record of every soldier) so I know the bullshitters. I had lunch last year with a quiet Korean War vet as I told him I was collecting stories. I knew what he earned (all the above). He got hit with a grenade in the leg when he went to check a ridge during an advance. Getting toward the top, a grenade came rolling down the hill. 

He was back in the trenches a few weeks later. He said, 'All I really remember is how cold it was. All the time.' A real (and quiet) hero.