Post-traumatic stress accompanies every war. Always has, always will. There is one very distinct difference applicable to Vietnam: the nature of American society welcoming returning veterans. It was not only the naive and sometimes malignant "protesters," but also the perception of a wimp society that held nothing dear nor had the character to defend anything it did. After seeing the rural people of Vietnam deal with such tremendous hardships, many due to poverty, disease and illness quite apart from the war, it was infuriated to return "home" to find people whining, complaining, acting like eternal adolescents, and having no idea just how fortunate they were to live in America. Then there was the media barrage of VN veteran portrayals in just about every televison program of the era. All had the stock "deranged Vietnam veteran" character. Essentially, those who served to the best of their ability (drugheads and losers excluded) returned home to find themselves pitied by the very same people they held in utter contempt. It was a very insidious combination of emotions. Many who served in Korea or WW II also experienced things that haunt them to this day, but they were, in general, able to surmount these problems because they perceived themselves to be living in a sane society. This vital ingredient was not available to Vietnam veterans and greatly exacerbated valid and real horrid experiences. Coming back to America was like coming back to a clown convention at which everyone was stoned on mescaline and actually enjoyed the idiocy that prevailed in the late 1960s and into the 1970s. Little has changed since then. America had only began to become a silly, childish nation infatuated with frivolity blended with as much obscenity as can be gotten away with. If the rest of America could simply feel the contempt that many Vietnam veterans have for their "fellow Americans," it would be an extremely unpleasant experience, though perhaps postively enlightening.