Hell no, we won't go to Afghanistan! Vets & active duty military - new campaign (pic heavy)

[raouldukelives]

24. Well I am bit pessimistic with regards to the military these days.

I've had family members serve in just about every major war and even the recent "wars". The ones I know who served in WWII and Korea were some of my favorite people ever, even if they were Reagan supporters. My Uncle who landed at Normandy was one of the finest human beings I have had the privilege of knowing. They were kind and loving. There was no fear or hate in their eyes.

The ones who served in Vietnam seemed to me somehow different. There was a marked change in their attitudes, emotions and mental health. Neither one was a joy to wake up in the morning. Sadly one couldn't deal with whatever demons he was carrying. He would awake screaming in the night, started drinking heavily and after a few years one night drove off a cliff at 90mph. The other is now a rabid Fox News viewer and a firm supporter of our military and its current missions.

The ones who have served in our recent "wars" strike me as returning in much the same way as those from Vietnam. They are depressed, angry and lash out friends and family members. They have trouble sleeping, they are seeking self medication through alcohol and drugs. They have a very self destructive tendency that I never felt from my family members who served in the Big Red One. Who also witnessed the horrors and tragedies of warfare.

I think something happened in the military. War is war, killing is killing. These haven't changed. But something has changed. I almost think the service is different now from the way it was in 1940. Almost as if the military has tried to create ways to make better killers. Killers who don't hesitate, who don't question, who don't have a strong moral backbone. Mind you this is my own personal feeling about it. I have no personal, first hand experience serving in the military so I may just be talking out of my orifice. But the way my older family members were affected by war and the way the more recent ones have been seem vastly different to me. Almost as if the military did something that messed up their minds to the reality of killing and its consequences on their long term mental well-being. I have seen fear, anger and hate in many of my friends and family who served in Iraq or Nam. I never saw it at all in those who served in the 40's and 50's.