I'm not saying that great works couldnt be created, and certainly not saying that artists shouldnt be commisnoied. Maybe I misunderstood the post. (art history is not something I'm real famieler with) I was under the impression that under this system that artists freedom were limited  or censured.  And if that was the case thats why I responded in my last post the way I did.

True, it seems vietnam had a much stronger effect on men then other wars.  But I was a new kind of war to Americans. The U.S. was new to the whole guirilla type of fighting. I mean they did it on a small scale in time past but not like the vietnamese.

True.  Men, especially of that time were very serious about honor and chivalry. So I Can see them refraining if instructed to do so.

.? I wonder why these things endure for such a long time after a war.

They are things men wern't supposed to engage in, And I beleive war is one.

My father (now desceased) was there for two years. He  died in an auto accident when I was three and I never knew him. But my mother has told me some horrific stories about how messed up he was when he came back. and many other things about what he saw when he was there. I dont think there were any good times. Maybe some friendships, but not much else. And war is no where near glamorous, hollywood or not. There is a line in a Louis Lamour novel, How the west was one, its in the movie too, that goes something like;             ” I thought it would be glorius I thought I would be a hero, But there aint much glory in seeing a man with his guts all hanging out”  Says it all.