Serious question about military vets you've met

[Jarl Varg]

I'm an older gent, and have known vets from WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. Many of these folks I've met had some form of PTSD, some flat out whacked. They went through some really bad shit, understandable. I was brought up to respect our vets, and do my best to continue to do so. My question is this: Why is it that 90% of the vets I've met who were in the military from the '90's to the present, are completely full of shit? I understand that war is not good, but our ancestors went through far worse, and returned to productive lives, and raised families. The town I live in is loaded with retired/former military vets. I've met/maintained friendship with a few, but have alienated/called out far too many. I've had problems/damned near knock down-drag outs with horrible former military neighbors. Your thoughts?

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

Knew one that was involved with Desert Storm. Desert Storm turned him into a pit mommy.

 

[FeatherPlucker]

Hmm, now that I think of it... the 90s-onward Vets often seem to become schizo, druggies, troons, or all three. Perhaps it's the weird inoculations they gave the guys in boot camp? Exposure to dangerous chemicals?
Too much 90s anime and porn + war PTSD =peak insanity?

 

[dick brain]

1) Survivorship bias
2) I knew a Vietnam vet for a time and got to pick his brain about it, and the long and short of it is that 'nam was the last era where the people on the ground were genuinely, sincerely blind to the fact that they were fighting not for their country and countrymen but for the economic interests of politicians and tycoons; that the very civilians they believed they were fighting for opposed what they were doing; and that the apparatus they were opperating under did not give a fuck about them. The chain of command actively lied to them about the political climate back home, and they had to find out about it through word of mouth from people who went home and came back. This destroyed trust between combat personnel and command, and it has never recovered. Anybody enlisting after 'nam either knows these things going in and has to find a way to make peace with them beforehand, or worse, they're a dumb kid fresh out of high school who finds these things out after they're already enlisted, and has to find a way to make peace with it in the process; kids who sign up with an outdated expectation of what the military is supposed to be, seeking purpose and honor and valor and brotherhood, and have to cope with seeing the corpse of their dream from the inside, often under pressure from families who are operating under the same illusory memory. Either case makes for a flawed and bitter person.

In short, honor, valor, pride and trust all died in Vietnam, and people are still figuring out how to grieve.