[Tijeras_Slim]

Yep, Howard Stern is the fount of historical knowledge.

[dighton]

If your question is serious, which its tone leaves open to doubt, you might find perspective in books like Wartime, and With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa, and from the numerous vets on this forum.

[aculeus]

Both lived with some degree of alcoholism afterwards.

Wars and other unpleasant events do not cause alcoholism which your comment seems to imply.

Read Valiant's The Natural History of Alcoholism (Harvard, 1983) or other serious works.

[Coop]

Welcome to the forum, Terry. I served in Desert Storm, and my father served in 'Nam. In the Navy. Fortunately not with John F'in Kerry.

Mutilating corpses is never acceptable, except perhaps in a very few extreme cases (fear of booby traps, for one). Especially for trophies! The very few veterans who would engage in such despicable atrocities are probably the same very few that John F'in Kerry testified that he joined with in engaging in said atrocities.

And they're probably the same very few vets that now support Kerry's campaign.

Hope that answers your question. "Hero" is the last four-letter word this veteran would use to describe John Kerry.