I suppose every war has its peculiar problems due to unique social conditions. Vietnam had conscription, short tours, drugs, insubordination, even mutiny. A lifer vs short-timer, straight vs freak culture, plenty of slope-eyed prostitutes and young kids who just didn't want to be there and felt they were being forced to fight in a war they didn't believe in. It was a rock and roll war.

The "greatest generation" simply didn't talk much about the ugly side of World War II. It was a Glenn Miller/Andrews Sister war.

Today we have professional soldiers, endless repeated deployments, broken families, no local girls and brothels and plenty of round-eyed young women everywhere. It's a rap and hip-hop war.

Of course, you can't really blame the troops, or even the brass. I'm sure this is an unanticipated response to stress, just as the Vietnam Era problems were. But I suspect the contemporary our-heroes-can-do-no-wrong attitude is not going to make it any easier to identify the problem, or to do anything about it.