A Difference Of Opinion

Achromic is a California liberal :p
And I?m a Midwest moderate :p
And there?s not that much difference between us. :D

But I see from her comment that we differ on the military. She said:
"...The basic jest of my last post that went missing is that, I sympathize with every soldier that is finding out the hard way how little our government cares about them. Out here we just had a new story running about how they were returning to find out they were homeless and unable to find work. See rents out here are exsorbent (1350 for a one bdrm) unless you have rent control, only if you default on paying your rent under rent control then the LL can kick you out and up the rent to market value."

I'm in total agreement here, but in the next bit she and I begin to differ:

"Not only that but as CA was a favorite landing site for the Vietnam vets most people think of soliders as well less then stable (do you really want guy in the cubical next to you be someone that has learned that killing people really isn't that hard?....especially in a high stress environment?)"

And that's why the 'support our troops' magnetic car stickers are selling like hotcakes. As a child of the 80's, I saw far too many homeless veterans; unable to function in a society that had moved on without them. I have one of those stickers on my truck as a reminder to myself that our returning soldiers need understanding. I understand that they've lived through a kind of stress and insanity that most Americans will never experience. And I understand that America will want to sweep them under the rug rather than retrain them. A baby comes into this world with no understanding of the complex and ridiculous rules of society. A returning soldier is much the same way. Although they know the complex and ridiculous rules of society, they have little understanding of those rules anymore. They've just spent a year or more learning to break every rule they've been taught as a child. When they come home, they feel lost and alone. They tend to believe that no one feels like they do. (Which is b.s. by the way. Achromic and I both acutely know that feeling, and neither of us have ever fought a war on foreign soil.)
She goes on:
"No one out here believes that the military does/has any way of deprograming their killers. So they are having a hard time find a job. So they end up on the streets. I feel for them, I do, but I also try to remember that they volunteered for this. We still have a volunteer military and although it is a tough way to grow up, they choose it, and they learn the consequence of not researching the co. they are choosing to keep. In this case they may learn it while watching their best friend die. Tough."

Those last lines are what started this post. Yes, we have a volunteer military. They did volunteer for the possibility of war. Yet the actuality of war is not discussed in polite company. Americans are taught to be proud, flag-waving, idealistic, unthinking sheep.
They join the military as prey, and they come home predators. They also come home with a deeper appreciation of being alive. That deeper appreciation can be harnessed to integrate our soldiers into our society. Former soldiers can do great deeds if society lets them. Or they can be a problem if society shuns them. The one thing they cannot ever be again is sheep.