You're all writing as if this is a great, big surprise. A cursory read of newspapers and magazines published in English and French between 1919 and, say, 1930 would give you a crash course in the "veteran problem", which you could follow up with a 1946-1950 reading program to complete your education.

Bill Mauldin's downbeat second book Back Home, sequel to the far more popular Up Front, should be compulsory reading for everyone involved in the administration of veterans' benefits in the United States. The big difference between then and now seems to be that in 1946, such a large proportion of 18- to 50-year-old men were veterans that they could not be ignored for fear of repeating grievous errors of the post-1918 era. Nobody wants another Bonus Army.

And that's only part of what total war can do for a nation.