A giant gap between the worlds of troops and civilians

Mark Matassa Jul 1, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>A giant gap between the worlds of troops and civilians</h1>
                <h2><p>A lot of the weekend’s Memorial Day coverage consisted of predictably feel-good features about military veterans who love their country and vice versa. All well and good. But in a “special report,” The Los Angeles Times pulls the camera back a bit to focus on a larger cultural divide</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/mmatassa-mac-com/">Mark Matassa</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://dev.cascadepbs.org/content/images/sites/default/files/images/article/gallery/7299879688_b5d417e37b_n.jpg" class="kg-image" alt="Photographer" loading="lazy" width="320" height="213"></figure><p>A lot of the weekend’s Memorial Day coverage consisted of predictably feel-good features about military veterans who love their country and vice versa. All well and good. But in a “special report,” <em>The Los Angeles Times</em> pulls the camera back a bit to focus on <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-warrior-main-20150524-story.html?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org#page=1">a larger cultural divide</a> between military and civilians. Many of those in the service now come from multi-generational military families, while less than 1 percent of the U.S. population is in the armed services today -- the lowest level since before World War II. The <em>Times</em> examines the economic, political and cultural divisions that ensue.</p>
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A lot of the weekend’s Memorial Day coverage consisted of predictably feel-good features about military veterans who love their country and vice versa. All well and good. But in a “special report,” The Los Angeles Times pulls the camera back a bit to focus on a larger cultural divide between military and civilians. Many of those in the service now come from multi-generational military families, while less than 1 percent of the U.S. population is in the armed services today -- the lowest level since before World War II. The Times examines the economic, political and cultural divisions that ensue.

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