Prior to the start of "Desert Storm", many troops had been in place for almost five months. The significant diference is that the Desert Storm ground offensive commenced on February 24. We are waiting WAY too long this time. Thank you Colin Powell and our European "Allies". We WILL remeber this.
I wonder. I don't have any military experience and certainly no war experience. I have worked on a couple of high media attention (especially in the trade press but also in the regular media) software projects and wasn't the slightest bit on nervous while doing the development work. It was only in the time between going golden (ie. to manufacturing) and general release that butterflies started.
I can't help but think something similar is going on with our troops. They're busy getting their stuff together, training, going over plans, fighting off periods of boredom, etc. I imagine the butterflies will start fluttering bigtime between the time Bush gives the real Ultimatum(TM) and the war starts. That's when the "what did I forget" and "please don't let me f*** up" will start.