@Jabra:
The thing is that the Vice-Admirals didn't do anything noteworthy at Marinefold. They are sure strong, but in the war of the best they appeared like the fodder of the bigshots and paled in comparison to the Admirals and the Shichibukai.
Garp & Tsuru are obviously way above their rank and are not really included when people talk about VA's, and I think the same goes for Smoker. His rank never represented his strength, and I think his current one doesn't as well. According to Garp, being a VA allows you to do everything you want to, without having to do any extra duties (babysitting Tenryubito's like the Admirals). I can perfectly see Smoker declining Admiral promotions for that reason.
They never appeared as fodder to me. They didn't fight aside from a few ones, yes, that's true, but that doesn't mean they were doing nothing or unimportant things.
They may have not been destroying ships and killing thousands of pirates, or doing something that's loud and attracts attention. They were giving orders mostly. That's no fodder-duty.
Although I agree that it's hard to see them as serious threats since they lack feats and popularity.
Of course Luffy became pretty strong, but we shouldn't forget that he has a long way to go. Two years of training doesn't equal let's say 20-30 years. I'm mainly talking about stronger VAs here (Onigumo) not the ones that seem to be there for their stainless suits.
One last thing: it's interesting when people mention Tsuru and Garp, no one mentions John Giant. Even though he was treated differently, he still got a "VA who can give order to other VAs"-vibe. That can be just me though.