Learning to respect Iraq War veterans

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I was having a discussion with one of my staff at program today, and he was talking about how the government refuses to help homeless veterans. I hate to admit this, but sometimes I have trouble respecting veterans. It's especially true with Iraq War veterans (especially white ones from red states) because many of them are Trump supporters. You see it a lot with prominent ones like Dan Crenshaw. Robert O'Neill, and Chris Kyle - all of whom have made racist, homophobic, and anti-Muslim comments. (Chris Kyle constantly referred to Arabs as "savages" even if they were civilians.) They often get the "war hero" treatment. I always thought the Iraq War was a mistake, especially because it only made things worse by giving room for ISIS to take over. I also come from New York, and a lot of white Southern veterans have talked trash about New York and stereotyped it as full of liberals. I do realize isn't new, since I always heard stories about WWII veterans who continued to refer to Japanese people as "Japs" throughout their lives. I just find it hard to respect a veteran who thinks gay men don't belong in the military or refers to Arabs as "savages" and Hispanics as "illegals".

How could I learn to respect Iraq War veterans?

Ah yes, let's continue to fight hate and ignorance with even more hate and ignorance. It's the American Way!

That said however, I agree that the War in Iraq was stupid and I cringe at all the "military worship" in the south too. Mostly because nobody will admit that nobody really gives a s**t about our military here in the states.

What else can you say about a country with peace-loving pothead hippies throwing feces and spitting on young men who were drafted into the Vietnam War while Jane Fonda was partying on the other side of the battlefield? All while they were being abandoned by the very government and country they thought they were protecting?

Why would you place people who fought a war of aggression up on a pedestal? They did the job they agreed to, just like most other people who've been employed. They're not heroes. They don't deserve negative judgments, but they don't deserve to be celebrated above paramedics or firefighters or other actual heroes.

I also struggle to respect modern military veterans. Nobody forced you to join up--you volunteered. You knew what you were getting yourself into (or maybe you just didn't put that much thought into it). You convinced yourself that America's 21st century wars were just and necessary. You bought into what the politicians were selling. You paid the price. And the government cast you aside when you lost your usefulness, because the warhawks who sent you abroad to spill blood don't want the government to help you, because something something bootstraps something something balanced budget something something small government. The main things that keep me from voicing this in public is our unhealthy collective hero worship of the troops, and the fact that, despite all the above, I feel sorry for them (well, the ones who actually are disabled or scarred or otherwise too damaged to function).

The examples I listed definitely don't have PTSD. Dan Crenshaw always seems to be smiling, and he practically gloats about his military service.

One of my great-granduncles fought in WWII and was taken prisoner by the Germans, who especially hated that he was an ethnic German fighting for America (never mind that he was American-born). From what my mom and dad told me, he clearly developed PTSD from his experience. He only lived into his forties, and his wife (who outlived him by nearly half a century) never remarried, so she was left to raise the kids. Although I never met him, he is someone whom I definitely feel sorry for. I don't feel sorry for Dan Crenshaw or Chris Kyle at all.

I understand why we need the US military, and I don't have a problem with people enlisting (it could actually be a good experience for someone who wants to serve the country), but veterans are just people like everyone else. They're not larger-than-life figures. I do respect veterans who are good people, but I do agree that you don't have to respect veterans who are jerks.

I don't feel sorry for Chris Kyle in the slightest, the guy was proud of being a savage and a killer. I feel worse for the guy who blew Kyle's brains out, he eliminated a monster and the most I can do to express gratitude is send him a crate of ramen.

Some people join the military due to reasons like poverty, getting funding for college, & getting experience that can help them find employment & various life things. There are some Aspies who join the military because they need structure & routine & they're struggling with life after becoming an adult. They may not be able to live with family anymore & are majorly struggling to find jobs.

Americans overdo the veterans and patriotism stuff.

While veterans do deserve support and incentives after service, the whole saluting veterans and thanking them for their service in public is all a bit too much.

A lot of what the OP is observing is leftover guilt for the way we treated Vietnam veterans when came home which ranged from ignoring them to open hostility to stereotyping them as psychos. As veterans who fought in the first war the U.S. lost they were not welcome in veteran organizations.