MILITARY - The Gap Between Military and Civilians

"After Draftless Decade of War, Gap Seen Between Military, Civilians" PBS Newshour 10/6/2011

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): Now, after a decade of the United States at war, Margaret Warner talks with some who have gone to the battlefield and with some who have stayed behind, as a new Pew Research poll documents the gulf between them.

MARGARET WARNER (Newshour): It's another busy day for 31-year-old college senior Sean Grove (ph). After five years in the Army, including 12 months in Iraq, he left to pursue a second college degree at the University of Maryland. He also works assisting the 800 or so veterans on this campus of 35,000. But whether he's there or at home, Grove feels disconnected from fellow students who haven't served.

MAN: On my block, I'm the only one with an American flag hanging out front. I remember when I got out and talked to other guys my age, they weren't in the military. And I was, like, kind of shocked, like, what, you have never served in the military?

MARGARET WARNER: Chances are, they didn't. The 10 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq triggered by the 9/11 attacks have been the longest period of sustained combat in U.S. history, yet fought with an all-volunteer force. That's meant only about half of 1 percent of Americans have been on active duty at any one time in the decade, a mere fraction of the 9 percent who served at the height of World War II.

To mark tomorrow's 10th anniversary of the start of the Afghan war, a new poll from the Pew Research Center explores this recent military civilian gap in service and how it's affected attitudes about war and sacrifice in the post-9/11 era.

Among both groups Pew found great respect for those who fought -- 96 percent of 9/11 era vets feel proud of their service. And 91 percent of the public, whatever their attitudes on the wars, feel proud of those who served.

But 44 percent of this generation of vets report trouble adjusting to civilian life, far more than after past wars. And more than 70 percent of vets and non-vets alike agree that the American people don't understand the problems these modern era vets face.