The Lord will “wipe away the tears from every face” and will remove “the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever,” promises the reading from the Book of Isaiah this Sunday. As the U.S. marks the 10th anniversary of the Afghan war this week, the suffering and divisions of the prolonged hostilities there and in Iraq have taken a great toll on those involved, said a new report.

The study by The Pew Research Center reveals wide differences between the way military members and the general public view the fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. While civilians polled acknowledge that soldiers and their families make a lot of sacrifices, only one-quarter see that as unfair.

A large majority of civilians see it as "just being part of the military." Eight in 10 veterans, by contrast, say the American public doesn't understand the problems faced by those in the military or their families.

Paul Taylor, the editor of the study, said he wanted to explore this unique moment in American history. "We've never had sustained combat for a full decade, and we've never fought a war in which such a small share of the population has carried the fight," he said.

Just one-half of 1 percent of the American population has served on active duty during the last decade. That compares to the 9 percent who wore a uniform during World War II.

Martin Cook, a civilian professor of military ethics at the Naval War College, is troubled by the small percentage of Americans serving in the military. "It becomes much more easy to deploy U.S. forces in tough environments for long periods of time because the vast majority of Americans don't feel they have any skin in the game.

“I've often speculated could we have fought wars for 10 years if this was a draftee army and I doubt it," said Cook.

Source: An article by Tom Bowman for National Public Radio