He is smart but he also grew up in the 60s and almost got drafted in Vietnam. He thinks that everyone who goes in enlisted has a death wish, he doestn realize its different.
It isn't different. Except now instead of dying, they come back alive but missing multiple limbs, suffering other disfigurement, or with barely diagnoseable brain trauma that will haunt them for the rest of their life.
Iraq and Afghanistan would have undoubtedly surpassed the Vietnam casualty count for US soldiers, if it wasn't for huge advances in battlefield medicine and PPE. But as the DC beancounters are discovering, that simply means you have tens of thousands of wounded returning to the states requiring a lifetime of care.
Yea, it's different. Now you only buy a piece of the farm instead of the whole thing. The casualty count is still high and with the number of repeat deployments since our all-volunteer force stays in long enough to go back a few times instead of being drafted and serving only one tour, the chances of getting wounded is still pretty darn high. Don't fool yourself... Read up on the stories of the guys who died or even made it back alive but badly wounded, and see how many of them were on their second, third, fourth, or higher repeat tour.
I've been "over there" 4 times in my 17+ year career, and I was in training command for half of that time.
And oh yea, the're looking at dramatically restructuring the entire benefits package for military members because we're too expensive. Giving 24 years of your life and surviving 3 or more wars is apparently not enough to justify a pension and medical care for life, because it's too expensive. Your generation gets to deal with that, and it's going to lead to a smaller military compensation package in the form of lower pay, fewer bonuses, slimmer (or eliminated) pension, and a much more expensive medical benefit even if you suffer injuries on duty.
Yea, it's different than how it was for your Dad...
