Not to take this in a different direction, but goesh has a great point.

One of the things that surprised me the most after my first deployment is how people reacted when you would tell them about "un-horrible" things.

There really is an expectation that war is horrible, therefore YOU should be miserable, depressed, suicidal and hate every last second that you're deployed.

Not to downplay the ugly, horrible, bad parts of it, but anyone who has been in combat knows that there are amazing moments where you get to see people at their best. You get to build relationships that last a lifetime. Some of the funniest things happen under the worst conditions. And there is down time where you’re doing silly things to make the best out of a bad situation.

Goesh is right – this is only an issue because the American people don’t expect anything human – even at the individual level – to come out of armed conflict.

What a sad state of affairs.