PL away from home wrote:
> On Jun 3, 1:41 am, Dave Smith > wrote:
>
>> It's interesting that guys like this endured the horrors of war for
>> extended periods and came back, picked up where they left off and led
>> normal lives.
>
>
> You better really think about that, before you say it.
>
> "Normal lives"...... I don't think so.


I do. That is why I said it.
>
>
>> Soldiers these days live with a much higher level of
>> comfort,
>
>
> When was the last time you were deployed to Iraq, or Afghanistan?

Is that supposed to refute what I said?
They have food, water, bedding, transport. Soldiers on the front line in
WW I were in wet trenches for weeks at a time. They were sometimes only
yards away from rotting corpses. They were lucky to have a shower once a
month. Their uniforms and quarters were usually infested with lice. They
endured artillery barrages on a regular basis. The guys on the line in
WWII weren't any better off. They were poorly fed, often poorly clothed
and were lucky to have a shower once a month. Their chances of survival
were better than those in WWII because they had better medical
facilities and antibiotics. The guys who fought in North Africa were
sent to Sicily, then to Italy, and after more than a year of almost
daily combat many of them were then sent to Normandy and then fought for
almost a another year.
>
>
>> have a much better chance of survival and spend relatively
>> short periods of time on deployment. They can communicate with their
>> families by telephone and email.
>
>
> It's the electronic age.
>
>
>
>> Yet, a high percentage of them come
>> back claiming of post traumatic stress,even among those who aren't on
>> the front lines.
>
>
> I agree.
>
> I find it hard to stomach people, such as certain Merchant Navy
> persons, passing themselves off as "combat veterans".
> It's really quite disgusting that they do it.

Why? Sailing in convoys across the North Atlantic and being under attack
by UBoats was no picnic. If a clerk manning a desk and who was never
sent overseas, or members of some rear echelon support units who were
never on the front line can be a veteran, why not the guys who braved
the ocean and wold packs? The US Merchant Marine had a higher percentage
of casualties than any of the other services, more than 4 times that of
the Navy and about 16 times that of the Coast Guard.