2024 Veterans in Society Conference: Tidal Changes in the Sea of Goodwill
On August 30, 2021, the United States withdrew its military forces from Afghanistan, marking the end of the longest war in American history. During the twenty years of the Global War on Terror, between two and three million American service members engaged in post 9-11 war operations. American support for veterans and their families during this period was remarkably high. Beginning in 2010, Admiral Michael Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, referred to American public and private support for veterans as a “Sea of Goodwill.”