Some thoughts on the curious nature of soldiers supporting war.

I was watching Scrubs the other day, and one episode, "His Story IV," reminded me of the Enola Gay stuff we were talking about. I know that we've moved on to Urban Development issues now, but I'll get back to addressing that later this week. In the episode, there was a wounded soldier being treated at the hospital and the nurses and doctors got in a huge argument about whether they supported the war in Iraq, which divided the hospital. What was so interesting was that one of the nurses, Laverne, has a nephew in the marines fighting in Iraq. Obviously, the pro-war contingent rallied around Laverne's nephew.
Why is it that people who know or are related to soldiers seem to automatically support the war? And get so upset when other people argue against it? It seems to me that people with loved ones in the line of fire would be among the first to want the war to end. But that's not how it works.
Instead, people who are always worried about their relatives or friends off fighting in Iraq don't want their potential sacrifice to be meaningless. They can't stand the thought of their beloved nephews fighting a misguided, questionable war, because that takes away the heroic nature of their service.
The same happened with the Enola Gay. The soldiers who dropped the bomb privately struggled with the enormous deathtoll that their mission caused, but for some reason, rather than being reflective about the situation and simply blaming their superiors (who made the decision to drop the bomb) for any wrongdoing, they cannot STAND the thought that their service in the war was immoral or that their role was in fact anything less than heroic.
I think it's a shame that those who are the most hurt by war are the ones who fight hardest in its defense. Just because you flew planes in the war doesn't mean you can't be reflective about the war! Will all of the Iraq veterans be so resistant to reflection as well? Will they argue in favor of Abu Ghraib, just because wrongdoing there would in some way tarnish them?