New war veterans’ effect on America far-reaching

New war veterans’ effect on America far-reaching
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN

WASHINGTON – For the first time in 30 years, a large part of society will have acquired combat experience.  Nearly a million members of the U.S. armed forces have been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other danger zones since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and almost a third of them have been sent more than once, figures released by the Pentagon show.

That figure has implications both for the military and society at large, experts on the military say. For the first time in 30 years, a significant portion of society will have seen the misery and violence of war for an extended period.

“The only silver lining you can find in these numbers is that, for a generation to come, America will have many, many adults who understand the reality of what war is all about,” said Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute.

“Today hundreds of thousands of soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors are seeing war up close. They will carry that knowledge into the future as they return to the United States.”

Less impact than Vietnam

But not everyone. During Vietnam, more Americans knew someone who served and someone who died. The post-Sept. 11, 2001, wars are far less a part of the mainstream American experience, says Charles C. Moskos, a Northwestern University professor who is an expert on the military and society.

“It’s not a generational experience,” he said.

More than 3.4 million people served in southeastern Asia during the Vietnam War, including draftees. More than 58,000 died.

Around 700,000 Americans served in the Persian Gulf during the first war with Iraq, but many came home quickly after the liberation of Kuwait. Of those, 382 died.

Since Sept. 11, 2001, military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan combined are close to 1,500.

Fought by others

“The reality is you will have had a group of Americans who bore almost all of the burden of citizenship,” said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “For most Americans it is being fought by other families’ sons and daughters, who are both out of sight and often out of mind.”

The news media can only tell so much of their story to the rest of the country.

“I don’t think you have much information as to what it means to spend six months in a combat zone. You can’t easily communicate what it means to come back with serious and debilitating wounds and have to live with the aftermath,” Cordesman said.

More than 10,000 U.S. service members have been wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The demographics of the soldiers have changed somewhat since earlier wars. More women are going to war. More young men and women are leaving spouses and children at home.

“Going overseas (for a married soldier) is going to be more traumatic than it would be for a single soldier,” Moskos said.

Still, he said, “the social background of the troops is basically the same. These are solid, working-class men and women. They are not in any sense the bottom of the barrel, but they are not the children of the privileged, either.”

Another difference: The troops overseas are not interacting with the indigenous cultures the way they have in the past.

Americans saw most of the world during World War II; GIs walked around Saigon during the Vietnam War. Most of Baghdad today is too dangerous.

Even allied countries such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan minimize any U.S. presence for fear of angering their citizens.

“It’s going to be the first major war we’ve fought where there are not going to be GI war brides,” Moskos said.

Troops strained, some say

“What the Pentagon statistics reflect is a military that is fully committed, in fact over-committed worldwide,” Thompson said.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld argues otherwise, saying a reorganization of the force will ease the burden.