This topic sucks because it sounds like people care, and at the same time the word happy makes it clear a lot of people only care on the surface.
And I am sure they do care but they don't CARE enough to demand better.
I served with friends that went to the Gulf war, mine was Somalia (which does not count as a war but I count anything you are getting shot at and having to shoot back at groups of armed men). What I always notice is people are willing to wave the flags and put the yellow ribbons on their cars - but in the same breath they are acutely aware that kids come home missing pieces because of risks OTHER PEOPLE took with their lives...and we are OK giving them substandard care.
Vets get the shaft.
They get salutes and holidays, but get paid barely enough to support their families and when they come back injured they get the lowest standard care provided by the lowest bidder. They get to deal with PTSD and all the rest - but rarely get much in quality assistance because we rarely allocate the appropriate budgets to help fix people our own national decision & policies damaged. And that isn't a political issue, both parties screw Vets.
The fact that VA is almost synonymous with crappy care/service should show you where the budget priorities are. And with priorities like that - this country has NOT earned the right to pretend it cares about its vets.
It does when it is convenient, pretty much it.
A few people I was in the service with ended up deployed in Gulf War I & II. Most of them joined for the freaking college fund. But they were forced to take the "anti-chemical warfare" (not sure if they were protection against nerve agents or biological agents).
Of course those pills were not adequately tested, they were rushed to the troops and someone made a mint selling that crap to them. They even had sent orders down for squad leaders to check to be SURE that people actually took the pills. So what happened? Well, all the people I know that took the pills? Ended up with "Gulf War Syndrome" (google it up) which they blamed on burning toxins in the air. All the people I know that did not take those pills? Didn't get it.
So how much did we "care" about our troops that we were willing to A) push untested meds on them & B) Not even disclose the real causes of their illnesses so they could get help? God knows the shady crap they did to guys in Iraq/Afghanistan but I am betting that two things happened:
1 - Some companies made a mint selling crap to the military that was substandard
2 - Soldiers ended up hurt/damaged because of it.
Because for over 10 years, kids have been getting shot at while someone is making money selling crap to the military.
I get it feels good to actually notice that at any point in the past few years we have had soldiers out there in a war zone while, at the same time, we were out at a strip mall complaining that our pizza was taking too long to cook. At least noticing a few times a year is better than nothing, but if people really cared - there would be a lot more attention paid to paying for things soldiers need when they get home, instead of just trying to keep the money treadmill moving overseas.
