It is up to us, who served an uncaring and oft undeserving nation once before, to make sure the men and women serving today are not subjugated to the same treatment when they come home this time.How true! When my husband returned from Nam, he was warned not to wear his uniform because the American public had become so hostile to our military.
I haven't read all the posts here, but on a different note, it should be pointed out that any comparisons of Iraq to Viet Nam should include the statistics that an average of 500 body bags/week were being shipped home. (That's my husband's recollection and I don't have the exact stats - that sounds like an awful lot ... maybe someone has a documented number?)
There are many reasons why one can not, if one is honest, compare Viet Nam to Iraq, but your husband has a very valid one. Do the math on the number of dead. The first major military engagement, with U.S. forces began late in 1965 (Battle for the Ia Drang Valley) and we bugged out in late 1972/early 73. We built up our forces there over a year or so after Ia Drang and began pulling units out in 1971. If you figure 55,000 American dead in the war and that the major combat took place over a 5 year period that averages out to close to 250 dead a week. I am sure there were many weeks that 500 were killed in a week.
Trust me the only people that want to compare Viet Nam and Iraq are the ones that hate America and want to see us fail over there. And the for the sickest of reasons ... political power.