They did that. But things have changed since then. Individually, our men and women in uniform today match up equally with their predecessors. As a society and a nation, I'm not sure we're in the same league as the one that fought on with a determination and doggedness to beat the Nazis and militarists of Imperial Japan, in spite of year after year of slogging and four hundred thousand KIAs. The fifth column is getting all giddy at the prospect of passing the 3,000 KIA mark in Iraq. As tragic as that is, we lost that many on D-Day alone, over 5,000 in three days at Iwo Jima. But the press didn't fight us then, they were with us.
We're also as a nation still paying the price for the 1960s/Vietnam debacle. It was primarily during that era that we went from a people who viewed service and sacrifice as a national obligation to one where such was to be avoided. In WWII, we were a people united in purpose and focused on achieving a national goal. That has lapsed into an attitude of self-indulgence, decadence, and the perception that the country and our fellow citizens are there to serve us, rather than the other way around.
And no, I don't know what it will take to turn it around. I thought 9/11 might do it, but as we've seen the memory of that tragedy has been a fleeting one. We can't seem to get up the gumption to even rebuild what we lost. The place is still a hole in the ground. And any mention of that day is often greeted with derision and a sickly whining about your "exploiting" that day for political gain. This from a country that had "Remember Pearl Harbor" as a rallying cry. Very, very sad.
Unfortunately the depravations from affluence can sometimes be worst than the depravations from war. This quote is from an unknown Roman who bemoaned the fact that late Imperial Rome no longer possesses the fighting men because they are out of shape and soft from the wealthy life style to field good legions in lieu of paying for barbarian mercenaries.
I'm not sure we have to be in that same league. Today, once we have really joined the fight, we can kill everyone we need to kill in 1/2 a day with zero casualties. That is the kind of war I am talking about.
All that you say is true. But what you say is true only because the American people are not yet sufficiently provoked to fight a total war.
Big difference in CNN and Movietone news.