I can't find the similarities.

The similarities I was alluding to were more about the public perception rather than the motives for conflict. At least the Vietnam vets had the excuse that they were forced through conscription.

Those of us Iraq veterans willingly took part under the pretence that we were there to stop the spread of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. We even took Anthrax vaccinations in the lead up to the Invasion because refusing the vaccination meant we could not deploy. The very same untested vaccinations that is being linked to Gulf War Syndrome.

Where Vietnam was primarily about the CIA involvement of the Heroin trade and an attempt to create a buffer zone between Communist China and US interests in the Pacific region, Iraq (and also Syria) was primarily about the rebuilding contracts, and the Qatar-Turkey oil/gas pipeline. We haven't been on the good side of history since we helped stop Nazi Germany and the Japanese empire. Even our liberation of East Timor was really only so we could take advantage of their oil and gas reserves, maybe if West Papua had some shiny resources to plunder we would have helped them too.

The sad thing is, if I were to be called back in as a reservist I would probably put my boots on. Like a dog that's been kicked in the guts too many times, I'd still feel compelled to serve my country and it makes me fucking sick to admit it.