When I graduated from high school and entered the University of Washington in 1949, I found myself surrounded by a number of older men (men in their late twenties or early thirties are "older" to an eighteen-year-old). These were World War II veterans going to school on the G. I. Bill. They were mature, serious, goal-oriented students who had seem something of the world, and going to school with such friends and classmates was a unique experience. I was fortunate. And for the service they had rendered to their country, the government expressed its gratitude in concrete and meaningful ways.

Since then, the government hasn't done quite as well. Perhaps the fact that World War II was the last "good" war this country was involved in has something to do with it. As far as I can remember, veterans of the Korean conflict were well take care of, but it's well known that many Vietnam veterans have had a rough time of it. And this was not because of protesters or the large numbers of people who were opposed to the war, but because the government has pretty much turned it's back on them, ignoring their concerns and difficulties.

This was repeated in spades following the Gulf War. Tens of thousands of troops came back with a variety of debilitating but unexplained symptoms that came to be known as "Gulf War Syndrome." The government denies that such a thing exists. Nevertheless, there it is! See HERE.

If I were one of our fighting personnel, I would be far less upset by people protesting against this war than I would be about the possibility that I could come home from the war debilitated by a wound, an injury, or an illness incurred while serving my country, and find that I've been mustered out, dumped on the street, ignored, and left to fend for myself.

It has nothing to do with "apples and oranges," Doug. It has to do with the history of lies, duplicity, and ingratitude of our own government. Just because you ignore a problem—or an injustice—that doesn't mean it isn't there.

Don Firth