Does combat exposure affect political orientation?

[Tactical Progressive]

Do veterans change much ideologically one way or the other after having been in combat?

From what I've seen over the years combat vets seem to almost universally have a far more cynical outlook on both the legitimacy of war in general, and its validity at least in country-type conflicts like Vietnam, than do new recruits. Newbies seem to revel in the righteousness of power. They're there to get the bad guys. They are young and on a mission to enforce the white in a world of black and white. I rarely get that sense from those who have been through a war. It's a almost as if they come out of combat reversed, at least as to the meaning of war itself.

There are plenty of solidly Republican military and ex-military guys, yet there are also veteran pacifist and anti-war groups. It obviously affects everyone differently. If there are any general understandings to be had: Do most people go out as they came in? Do you tend to get hardened? Or maybe become more circumspect, about politics and power and the human condition? I'd be interested to hear the perspectives of combat vets and those who know them.