Perspective of Iraq War Seen Through the Eyes of a Few Vietnam War Veterans

The War in Iraq is one of the biggest topics and issues in the world today let alone in the United States. In the United States, many veterans have expressed their disbelief and contempt for the War in Iraq deeming it as immoral, unjustifiable, and illegal. I go to this Midas in town to get oil changes for my car every few months. I went to get an oil change several months back and everybody waiting to get oil changes or their cars fixed happened to be veterans whom have fought in the Vietnam War.

Like many veterans mentioned in the news, they were very dissatisfied with the war itself let alone the turn of events. The person working the front desk also happened to also be a Vietnam War veteran. We were talking about the War in Iraq. They talked about how George W. Bush and his administration is doing a poor job in Iraq and that United States military forces shouldn't have been there in the first place. One interesting aspect that we had talked about was the difference between supporting the troops and supporting the war. Many people in this country from personal experience seem to thinks supporting the troops is the same as supporting the war which are two different things.

The veterans I sat with when waiting to get the oil change for my car to take place said that they are very much against the war. But they support the troops one-hundred percent all the way. In short, the troops are in Iraq because they are just following orders. One cannot criticize the troops for simply following orders. It's like you getting criticized for simply following your boss' orders no matter what job you are. You cannot criticize the lower level people such as the soldiers for simply carrying out orders. Soldiers have to follow orders unquestioned. If not, soldiers get disciplined and possibly get a court-martial that leads up to a dishonorable discharge. After 2002, a dishonorable discharge is the same of having a criminal record making that person or persons convicted felons.