I
IT WAS 1973 AND THE HEIGHT OF THE VIETNAM CONFLICT when Pfc. Neil Gussman, USA, stepped off a plane in his hometown of Boston with his head bandaged. He couldn’t see past the wound dressings on his right eye, though he heard the person who hissed “baby killer” at him. (The irony was Gussman’s injury occurred in a missile test explosion — in Utah.)
In 2007, after 23 years as a civilian, Gussman enlisted in the Army again and was deployed to Iraq. Today, Ser- geant Gussman keeps a blog Home From Iraq (
www.armynow.blogspot. com), in which he describes being back in service after a quarter cen- tury and relates his home life to his tours. One of the biggest differences, he says, is the frequency with which people say, “Thanks for your service.” Companies and individuals even greet servicemembers in airport lob- bies with gifts and meals. The difference is night and day
for most returning veterans. “I don’t think you have to quantify it, just observe it,” says Tom Porpiglia, a Vietnam veteran and licensed mental health counselor in Rochester, N.Y.
The face of service In the 1960s, military service was associated with draft lotteries, draft card burnings, and defectors. Today’s servicemembers are volunteers — most of whom made the decision
to join the military after conferring with in-place support groups such as parents or spouses. The modern military also accepts women, mean- ing America’s fighting forces better reflect its population. More than 212,000 women have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, making up 11 percent of U.S. forces there.
Logistics “During the Vietnam conflict, individ- ual soldiers were rotated. In today’s wars, entire units are rotated,” says Lt. Col. Paul Fellinger, USA-Ret. “When one soldier returned from Vietnam, it was a routine matter. Today, units ro- tate, and that encompasses the fami- lies of all the soldiers.” Former Army Sgt. James Scorzelli,
a Vietnam veteran and professor at Northeastern University in Boston, says another major factor was Viet- nam tours of duty were specific and finite, usually a year. Today’s servicemembers reenlist and remain outside the general popu-
lace. They don’t perceive negativity or struggle with reintegration issues until later in life, says David Wood, who has worked as a war correspon- dent for more than 30 years. “Unlike the draftees of the Civil War or even the ‘greatest generation’ of World War II, these soldiers do not become farm- ers or businessmen or schoolteachers when their tour is over,” Wood said in a 2010 Politics Daily article, “In the 10th Year of War, a Harder Army, A More Distant America.” The physical act of coming home
also serves to strengthen a service- member’s sense of belonging and the public’s perception of community in the service. “Those coming back from combat
in World War II came back in a boat, which took days, with the returning soldiers being in intimate contact with fellow soldiers,” says Dr. Peter Smith, an Air Force contract psychol- ogist. “It took weeks for these soldiers to get home, and there was little stress and a lot of empathetic camaraderie
52 MILITARY OFFICER MAY 2011
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