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The theme was the "trauma" of returning US WW2 veterans
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I've never served in the military and I don't know much about it.
At one time I was curious about Viet Nam and asked coworker veterans and others about it.
I eventually realized that if they needed to talk about it they would talk to someone who understood, and I was not in the position to understand. The ones who were really in the thick won't talk much.
A friend, who was Army Recon, did tell me that every bad thing that was ever done to him was done in Viet Nam, that the rest is a piece of cake. This is the same man that upon returning to the states beat a man down into the curb bleeding and unconscious for no apparent reason, with the explanation that the man was an asshole and he had received a lesson - which was not in his character before he left for the war. The man had also told me, without a shred of being proud of it, that he had killed men, women and children in Viet Nam.
Another friend, whom I had always known to be happy go lucky, was a former Seal in Viet Nam, which I didn't know until one night while visiting he broke down crying, telling me about the nightly dreams and all sorts of ugly things he was a part of in Viet Nam. He never told me another single thing about it the rest of the time I knew him.
Another man I have known more recently has always treated me with respect, but he is unusual in that he liked the war while he was there. I think he was a part of the 101st Airborne in a unit which inserted "spooks" (CIA personnel?) and snipers. I'm not sure what it means, but people who did his type of work in Viet Nam were "Snake Eaters". He also described a limited amount of the nasty stuff to me, such as the killing of prisoners (No way to transport them under the circumstances) and civilians which stumbled on them and may have blown their cover if allowed to escape. One thing I do know about him is that he is not a bullshitter, and I have every belief that if someone were to commit some sort of trespass, such as cheat him out of money, that person's body would never be found.
Some now deceased relatives were in Viet Nam, they avoided the topic.
I have heard of WWII vets who had the dreams and were negatively changed by the war.
A couple of years ago I worked on a job in Fort Irwin with all the ranges and "Iraqi" and "Afghan" villages and such. The exit lane out of the base on Fort Irwin Road had a sign that proclaimed
"NOT ALL WOUNDS ARE VISIBLE. It then stated something about suicide and helping one's comrades cope with post traumatic stress.
A movie based on the book
All Quiet on the Western front showed, among other things, the great chasm between those who go to war and those who read newspapers about it.
I haven't been to war. How can I possibly understand it or honestly and fairly judge someone who has been?