What It Means To Be A Veteran Without The Experience Of War

I can't even guess at this one. I would say, if a military member can serve without going to a war, they're better off emotionally than a vet going to war. That's just my opinion. Why anyone would join up to go to war, and kill people, is beyond my understanding. I do not understand the fascination of what this Marine wrote. He only wrote it because he hasn't seen death and destruction a war will cause. I hope he never does. If he had witnessed war, I don't think he would feel this way. He would end up another suicde statistic, or have PTSD and carry the wat with him the rest of his life.

Without having been involved in combat, this veteran says he's left wondering what kind of man he is. As a Marine infantryman I wanted to kill like I’d been trained to do. The fact that I haven’t weighs on me. It’s a different burden than that of soldiers who have been trained to kill and do. It’s different, too, from the legless infantryman’s. Its weight comes from the scars I don’t have.