SFFP,
I agree that the US
public do hold their Serviceman in high esteem, but their politicians (of whom the Executive are arguably a bunch of war dodgers - I think the phrase for them is 'Chicken Hawks') are a little less caring. See the scandal of the Walter Reed Medical Facility:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...021701172.html
Or, the state of the Barracks at Fort Bragg that soldiers returning from Afghanistan have to endure:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/28/bar...agg/index.html
Or Rumsfeld's response to troops in Iraq asking whether their equipment is good enough, was '...you have to go to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want'. Caring bloke eh...
It would seem that the grass isn't always necessarily greener on the other side. In addition, the millions of Americans without sufficient medical insurance would give their right arm for the level of service provided by the NHS (provided that the operation didn't cost them anything
).
Back on topic, who could/would argue against providing school fees for children who have lost a parent on Ops?