I left country with a bit over 650 combat hours. Not bad for a maint Hack. As a matter of fact about twice as much as a normal maint. 'Hack's" tour and close to the average gun pilot tour. And ALL of the extra hours were volunteer exposure to build time and learn my trade. I did not have to go. My job was to keep them flying. BTW If I had logged all the time the engine was running like some pilots did, well that would have been a hell of lot of time. I don't owe any apology for either of my tours, and feel insulted by the BS post you made.
Taylor