After World War II, some 10 million Americans in arms came home to a grateful nation. Together with a citizenry steeled by the sacrifices of wartime economic conditions and guided by a can-do spirit and the newfound wonders of 20th-century industrial methods, they built the most prosperous nation the world had ever seen. Tom Brokaw was right to call them the greatest generation. Today's veterans are beginning to return from wartime theaters in Iraq and Afghanistan, too. But of course, everything is different now. Relatively modest in numbers, they do not define a whole generation the way World War II veterans did. In fact, never has this country asked so much of so few for so long, while the rest of us have generally continued on with our lives as before. These veterans' transition to civilian life is much more gradual. Like the case in Korea and even more so in Vietnam, the cause they pursue abroad is not as universally accepted by their fellow Americans (though, thankfully, the overwhelming majority of Americans are grateful to individual servicemen and -women for their personal sacrifice). Perhaps most of all, the economy to which these patriots return is not as able to provide them with needed jobs.