>>12148
The picture seems very colorful. The Companion has three chapters on the antiwar movement one I already mentioned here >>12101 and another is titled: The Veterans Antiwar Movement in Fact and Memory.
I just glanced inside them but it's clear that lots of veterans joined to or founded movements against the war. Many people saw the problem with the war on many different level. But it's sure noone - especially not the government - knew how those deeds will effect mentally and emotionally the soldiers who were trained and basically conditioned to do them and how should the society deal with the baggage which came with them.
I think the image you described as "pretty cool guys got screwed" already existed back then but wasn't that widespread.