[Jeff Head]

The number will be far greater then 100,000. We have had ove 100,000 there for the entire time for over 6 years. Rotating in and out.

Lots of reups, but atill, I think between Iraq and Afghanistan, byt he time it is over, that the number is going to be closer to a million.

...and many of them are already home, telling their stores.

[Fred Nerks]

After the war, Stalin found no reason to relax his control. Wherever he looked, he saw problems which demanded his attention and control. The government, the Party, the army, the communist ideology and the economy were all on the verge of collapse. Stalin's answer, as to be expected, was more Five Year Plans. And with the return of the Five Year Plans came the deliberate tightening of ideological control. The target became the existence of any form of western influence upon Soviet society. So, thousands of soldiers who had seen too much of the west during WW II, were sent to the GULAG and the intelligentsia was forced into retreat by party terror at the hands of the KGB.

SOURCE

I remember this period. When I was a young child, my family ended up in a number of displaced person's camps in Germany and then Italy before we came to Australia. The majority of the people in the camps were from countries that had supported Russia in the war. They all knew they could never return home, they were so afraid of Stalin, they knew what he was doing to the returning soldiers. It was no secret even then.

Returning patriots being seen as enemies of the State is nothing new. I just hope the entire military is aware of the possibilities - and have a sufficient grasp of history to be aware of the danger this administration poses.