war comes home

[Kevin]

The targets have also changed - before, they were mostly shooting uniformed Nazis, rather then plain-clothed insurgents.

This I think is a big deal. This is part of why Vietnam was harder on soldiers than Desert Storm was. I know more than just my dad who served in both. Desert Storm while it didn't have a lot of combat was clear cut combat. It was uniform vs uniform if you will. The heavy fighting that happened was against the Republican Guard and that was real and intense and at times very up close combat for thousands of soldiers. The soldiers I have personally talked to that experienced both had very different reactions. The welcome home was different as well. Welcome home from Desert Storm was parades and thanks yous and cheers. Vietnam was protests. That messes with the head.

Currently folks coming home aren't seeing the protest type stuff that they saw with Vietnam, but towns aren't throwing parades for Guard and Reserve units like they did after Desert Storm either. The welcomes are warm now, people have learned that blaming the soldier for following orders is a bad thing, but in many cases they are closer to indifferent. That has an effect too. Some of that is also because this war has been long. That dulls folks at home enthusiasm.

But the fact that things were much more a policing action I think has had a major effect. But like Pete said I don't see mandatory psych stuff helping too much. I don't see it hurting anything though. It was harder to justify that everything that the soldiers did in Iraq was right.

It was much easier for the WWII vets to feel they were justified, that the lives they took really helped make millions if not billions of other lives better. Again Desert Storm is more similar, a country was invaded, we liberated that country with the backing of much of the rest of the world. We left. This war we liberated a country under false pretenses, we can't be sure the people are really better off. The enemy looks like the friend. That is so much harder on the mind.

It's a hard thing to find a real solution for. As a citizen one of the best things you can do is so appreciation for the individual soldier. You can protest the leadership all you want though. I fully understood that as a soldier and it didn't bother me, I even protested leadership while I was a soldier, right down until I got my orders and then I executed them to the fullest of my abilities, but I certainly questioned the Presidents policies let that be known then went on with my duty. Most soldiers do. But I was booed while in uniform I was also cheered a few times. The view of the military had some ups and downs between 1996 and 2004. Being jeered at for serving my country did not help my attitude one bit.