I know there are WW2 and Korean Veterans, but the younger Veterans from Afghanistan are there too, with still alot of them serving in the Forces today. The spotlight for the Afghanistan Veterans is the mental aspect of their trauma with has come to more light in the press then WW2 or the Korean War. Maybe I see it as the older Veterans being more hardy (from coming through the great depression, and most coming from rural areas), whereas today our troops come from the kinder gentler side of life we have nowadays. But then again the combat is different today then in WW2/Korea with IED/roadside bombs in unexpected areas (thought to be safe) as opposed to the closer to the front (the danger is in WW2).
There is a Netflick doc (in colour) of WW2. The director put some insights into the coverage of the war, not normally seen. One was in the Battle of Brittan, where the RAF pilots could relax and have a pint in the local village pub, whereas the German pilots (in occupied France) did not have a friendly place to drink....
One thing mentioned in an American Civil War doc and the beginning of WW1, and in WW2 the German advance into Russia, was that the people in charge were saying it was only going to last a few weeks.....
The resilience of people to go endure hardships for long lengths of time is a fact.