Adjusting back to civilian life is hard.
Not for the reasons they listed, though.
The hardest things?
Not being part of the service any more.
Not being part of your unit any more.
Missing your awesome service friends, and having to make do with less-capable, less-dependable, less-almost-everything civilian ones.
Learning to adapt to the comparatively pointless civilian life, which is focused on money and status instead of duty and service and which features little excitement or drama, and certainly no regularly life-threatening situations. Yes, you actually do miss the excitement.
Adjusting to BOREDOM. Not that the service can't be really boring, but it's structured boredom with a purpose and a point. Civilian life is just unstructured and purposelessly and pointlessly boring.
Yeah, there's a dramatic increase in the amount of companionship of the opposite sex you can have...but it really doesn't make up for all that you lose.
Make sure there is a push back on those who would take away the valor and sense of honor for a job well done by those returning to civilian life and a repeat of Vietnam syndrome can be avoided. It is up to those of us understanding what the anti-s' are trying to do and stopping them cold in their tracks.
Good analysis. At a high school reunion, those of us who served had much to talk about. Our lives were full of color. Places visited, places where we fought, people met, cultures explored, the sense of belonging to something greater than yourself, and being with others that share in that experience.
The myth of lots of vets suffering from emotional problems is just that and was disproved after Vietnam. Most vets do not talk about that experience, just like most cops do not talk about the world they see. That is not a mental health problem. It is a realistic look at the world and the knowledge that some things are best kept to yourself and not inflicted on those you love.
But put us together, and stories of a shared experience come out.