I'm not even talking about retirement benefits for military personnel.  I'm talking about funding (or LACK of sufficient funding) for quality medical and psychiatric treatment for returning vets.  I'm talking about adequate rehabilitation, and more. 

I put some of this blame on the all-volunteer military, though it is the most proficient and professional in our nation's history, by all accounts.  By not having a draft, or universal service requirements, the part of America which actually serves and the smaller percentage of these who go off to fight wars is a miniscule portion of our population.  There are sincere well-wishers in our country and many who support the troops.  Some simply pay lip service.  For most, though, it is out of sight, out of mind on a regular basis.

If this nation had a much larger connection on a personal level, if this nation had to make some real sacrifices (even if that meant doing or contributing something as a civilian towards a war effort), if a significant number of the politicians, bankers, business and education leaders had sons & daughters at risk, we would be a hell of a lot more cautious about entering war, waging it successfully and ending it, and about taking care of those who have selflessly served us all, sometimes with the ultimate sacrifice, and often with scars the rest of us will never see.

We don't start the wars, but we sure as #badword# have to fight them. We don't #badword# up the wars and make our exit strategy near impossible, the politicians do that. We don't drag out the wars driving up the costs on the tax payers, that's the politicians as well.

All we do if fight the wars one year, come back to the states the next and train to deploy again; then repeat, over and over again. Yet when the finger of blame gets pointed, it always gets pointed a us and we end up shouldering the corrective action. It happened after Desert Storm when Clinton gashed the military and it's happening even worse now. Much, much worse.

Had I known how the quick the politicians and people would take a #badword# on us before I joined, I wouldn't have. All my wife and I look forward to now is retirement. It certainly isn't worth all of the untold riches we pocket.

Great post Michi