Hi,

Very interesting I didn't realize there was such a difference between Vietnam and 9/11, that Vietnam caused such conflict between fellow Americans, whereas 9/11 was cathartic. Anyway, thank you for sharing with me the history of the military, its incentive based aspects as an organization, and how different types of people adjust to civilian life after conflict. One of you said that a lot of the protestors during the Vietnam war went back to their regular lives, but a lot of them never gave up protesting. They seem to have become the liberal professors today in academia.

This "jerk" that I met, whether he was a Vietnam veteran or not, had the same reaction as a few professors I've had when hearing about the military. From that I assumed he was a veteran. I asked a friend of mine why some liberal professors get mad when you advocate points of view that differ from theirs. He explained to me that some professors would rather create "carbon copies" of themselves through their students, instead of teaching their students to think critically and objectively.

One of the reasons I'm reading Petraeus's dissertation, is to try to understand the intense anger towards the military that some of my professors still hold. From my observations, a few professors of mine who were avid protestors during Vietnam, never quite left Vietnam mentally and see the military today the same way they did during the 60's. A type of mental time warp, they spiral around in and never really leave.

From a generation X (under 30?) viewpoint, speaking for myself, the army strikes me as a very modern, technologically advanced, "progressive" organization that tries to be in touch with the world around it. To someone my age raised on the Internet and technology, that is appealing. To someone who was a Vietnam protestor, the military is probably represents the social ills and conflicts from that era. I've observed people over 50 react a lot different to the military, often more negatively or strongly, than say, gen X.

Naomi