• Semester3383@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    There were a lot of people that got caught up in that patriotic shit, that believed they were going to make a difference, do something good. I worked with a guy that was blown up in an armored HMMWV somewhere in either Iraq or Afghanistan; he survived, some of his friends didn’t. He had a TBI that–last I knew–he still wasn’t recovered from. He had pretty brutal PTSD from his entire time overseas.

    And yet, he still loved the people he served with, said it was a great experience, and also thought (in hindsight) that we were there for bullshit reasons.

    I was abused by my first spouse. Doesn’t mean that I didn’t also love them for almost all of our marriage.

    Shit’s complicated, man.

    • Cleisthenian@lemmy.ml
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      3 days ago

      It was pretty obvious in 2003 that it was an awful war. Normal people don’t get ‘caught up’ in this, they have buyer’s remorse because they didn’t end up being seen as the badass war hero who isn’t afraid to kill.