I guy I once worked with had a tattoo in Arabic on his arm which read: The hate keeps you warm. He was a veteran with 2 tours of duty in war zones. He was like "You're the only civilian I've ever told what that means. My girlfriend doesn't even know".

1/

He said: "The mental place you have to constantly nuture to be willing to kill is a darkass space. And now what? I was entrusted w/hundreds of thousands of dollars of training & equipment-but here, on the outside, all of that means nothing- qualifies me for nothing."

We weaponize young people as troops, mostly before they even have all of their brain, and then we thank them for their service w/o ever really grappling with what we have asked them to do.

We've been at war for 20 years.

This is why Oath Keepers, III%, etc. have such allure.

Also see: veteran suicide rates.