I get back from my COP/FOB hopping back to my "base" FOB where I stage from and see our news letter. The whole S2/BISE shop are getting awarded CABs because a rocket landed "close" to their building, and there was supposedly a few shrapnel pockmarks in the adobe.
WTF? When did we adopt a definition of "combat" that lets the 9-5 dayhos who never even see OVER the wire get awards for being "in combat"? I head in there for an INTELSUM briefing and they're all chattering away about the 70mm that hit a football field away like they weathered an artillery barrage in a hasty position! I realize that the FOBBITs that get killed by mortars are just as dead as the SF and SEAL dudes that jump on a grenade to save their buddies, but seriously. I thought the CAB was to distinguish non 11/18s that have been IN COMBAT, not just to be another version of the deployment patch.