> My father (British regular army, 19 years old at the time) went into France in August 1914, and got out in February 1919.

Hrothgar - I'm not speaking about your father per se, but if a reporter asked a soldier in the trenches at Verdun about the war, what sort of response do you think he'd get? Would he keep a stiff upper lip and talk about soldiering on, or would he tell you that sitting in a trench waiting for mustard gas really sucks?

My guess is that soldiers' response to war is universal. And when you see your friends' dying for no noble reason -- no Al Qaeda, no WMD -- then you tend to get pretty pissed off.