“..MOST of the dozens of men I know from that era were drafted. They answered the call, but how does a draftee match up to a volunteer on their fifth or sixth deployment?...”
My response wasn’t so much about comparing soldiers of then versus now. It was more about how civilian society has changed.
I don’t have a good answer to your question. I suspect it would probably have to be answered based on an case-by-case individual basis. But I can tell you this: my father lied about his age (he was 17) so he could enlist in the USMC and ended up on the front lines during the invasion of Okinawa....and lived to tell about it. He was wounded 3 times (non-life threatening). He insisted, and they allowed him, to keep on fighting.
He recently passed on, but I can assure you that he wasn’t too keen on what modern American society had become.
Has any generation honestly thought that the next group could hold their jock straps? Think about the guys home from Iwo Jima or Bastogne listening to how tough it was in France during the first war.
I think that’s just the nature of things.
But I understand your point and it’s valid.