King, we've also been an all-volunteer force for a long time. Unfortunately, residual resentment from the Vietnam years--terribly misdirected at those who served, most of whom would have rather been somewhere else--carried over for quite some time.
I served in an Army Reserve Military Intelligence Detachment in Iowa City. University of Iowa, pretty liberal back then. If we wanted to go out for a drink after drill in uniform, the only place we felt comfortable was the American Legion. The commanding officer and I went out for dinner one evening in uniform. Some [censored] made a smartass remark about "weekend warriors". He obviously didn't understand the meaning of the medals on the Old Man's chest--nor what other insignia on his uniform indicated. He was a Korean War vet. Served in the Ranger company of the 2nd Infantry Division. (I'm pretty sure he enlisted under age.) Had a couple purple hearts, and occasionally a piece of shrapnel would work its way out of his leg.
Things got better, but it was a long time coming. I was an instructor at Northern Iowa when former CIA Director Bill Colby came to campus to give a speech, late 70's. Not a lot of noise, but some protesters with signs about 20,000 deaths in Vietnam. (Colby ran the Phoenix Program, which--much like today's drone strikes--targeted key Viet Cong leaders.) Most people did not know that Colby had gone behind enemy lines twice during WWII (France and Norway) as an OSS officer. Genuine American hero. He remarked that he'd been offered a lot more money if he'd trash the CIA in a book or in his speeches. Unfortunately, campus crowds back then were much more welcoming to people like the traitor Philip Agee, who "outed" hundreds of his fellow CIA officers in his memoir. And somehow managed to avoid prosecution.
