All civilians, a moment of your time please?

Look, I understand that some of you out there WORSHIP the US military and put us on a pedestal. I also understand that some of you absolutely LOATHE military members and think far too lowly of all of us. PLEASE don't allow yourself to fall into these two very narrow ends of the spectrum, the military is a very broad organization with all types of people just like the civilian world. Some of us are cool people, some of us are a- holes. We are not gods, and we are not demons. We are human just like YOU. I personally would appreciate it if y'all could please make that extra effort to judge us on an individual basis just like anybody else. I HATE it when myself or one of my friends is judged negatively by people back home because of stupid stereotypes. It really sucks when we can't just be social with people when we're on leave or libbo or whatever just because they harbor such negative sentiment for us. I am not cocky. I do not act like I'm hot "excrement" out in town. I do not kill or maim for pleasure. I am not a homophobe. On the flip side of that, I personally haven't done anything remarkable either. I haven't saved anyone's life and I really haven't done anything to ahem "safeguard American freedom" or whatever they say.

So yeah, please remember we were civilians before we joined and are still very much individual humans. Thank you for your time.