I think you may have some points, but I think you've put it in a very, very unfortunate way.
All service is honorable and potentially dangerous, but it is not all equal....it simply is not.
The generation of the Iraq wars has simply not been called upon -- has not had the opportunity to make the sacrifices and take the risks of WWII.
As miserable, dangerous, and thankless as Iraq service may be, it simply can not be compared to Okinawa or Midway or Battan or Normandy the Bulge or many other locations where there was no secure zone to fall back to and where death was not only a possibility for an unlucky few but a likely prospect for many.
Today's generation might be just as brave if called to that kind of service. But, thankfully, they have not been called.
If anything in America is sacred, it is the service of our soldiers in WWII. They didn't come up with that Greatest Generation thing for no reason at all.
What we have is a remnant of heroes were now the few bear the burden for the slovenly millions. This remnant is as brave as any who served in WWII. But because all volunteer, and none are drafted, I hold the aggregate lot of today’s professional force in higher regard. GWB never called us to enlist, GWB called us to go shopping.I do fault our leaders, but our leaders are a reflection of us.
And even against that vacuous tide, thousands of men, the brave, my heroes such as Pat Tillman left the flatulent life and served. Which is better - To be called by an inner voice? Or called by a leader’s speech, or called by a draft notice?
You say thankfully they have not been called, I say regrettably they have not been called. This war will not be won, until we are one, until we as a nation are invested in it 100% Make no mistake, they will hit us again, and they will draw much more blood in our homeland than 911.