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	Sgt. David Hampton, a member of the Marine Corps in Iraq and Afghanistan

Sgt. Kevin Prato, 25, an Army reservist who returned to Frederick in June after two years in Iraq, said community support has been overwhelming. People always thank him and shake his hand, and a stranger once paid his tab at a local bar after overhearing Prato had served overseas.

It hasn't always been this way.

Richard Anderson was drafted to serve in Vietnam on Aug. 8, 1968. After 14 months in the war zone, Anderson flew back into Fort Lewis, Wash. Once the soldiers had changed into dress uniforms, they were warned to be careful on their way home.

"We had a debriefing and they said, 'When you leave here and go out into the airport, go where you have to go. Don't stop and talk to anybody,'" said Anderson, 61, a resident of Cavetown.

"Unfortunately (the older) generation looked at the next generation with the Vietnam vets pretty poorly," Anderson said. His father was a World War II veteran who barely greeted his son's return from war.

"I got a hug from my mother, and my dad just looked at me, and I put my hand out so then he had to shake my hand. That was my welcome home."

Their own poor treatment is one reason older vets try to honor more recent service members.

"We barely got a welcome home. É We're not going to treat our kids like that.

"They're 19, they're 20 years old, and we're going to treat them better than the way we were treated."

That effort seems to be working. Local veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan said strangers often show them kindness and gratitude.

Marine Staff Sgt. David Hampton, 33, served in Iraq and Afghanistan for 11Ú2 years and now works at the Frederick Marine recruiting office. When a Marine dies overseas, one man comes into the office and gives the staff Starbucks gift cards, Hampton said.

"That kind of support, it just kind of moves you when somebody doesn't know you and they just come in and offer their thanks and their condolences just because they know that we've lost one of our own. It's touching."

A big shift

Cpl. Alex Crane, 21, of Middletown , served with the Marine Reserves in Iraq from March to October 2008. After a recent Marine ball, the Middletown resident said he went downtown in full uniform. "I got high-fives and people were buying me drinks and giving me hugs. It's been a humbling experience knowing that despite a few bad apples there's still a lot of people out there that respect and understand what we go through."

Jules Tepper, 72, of Derwood, served in the Army National Guard and the Navy during the Korean War. He said the attitudes toward veterans were negative until the Gulf War. There has been an even bigger shift in attitude once soldiers starting coming home from the current wars.

"I feel very honored that they finally decided to respect the veterans," he said. "That's really great. People do care. When we came back, we had the feeling that nobody cared."

Each generation of veterans seem to be aware of what the others went through.

"I don't know how (Vietnam veterans) were able to do it," Crane said. "The way they were received and the way we were received was completely different."

"I think a lot of people remember what did happen to those guys when they came back home," Prato said. "The older generation, you see them, they're waiving the flags all the time, they have all the bumper stickers with the ribbons and everything."

Anderson and Tepper joined the local chapter of Rolling Thunder, a group of veterans who ride motorcycles in funeral processions to honor fallen soldiers.

The group worries that picketers will show up at military funerals, not seeing the difference between protesting the war and protesting the soldiers, Anderson said. But even if people do not yet fully support the troops and veterans, they are headed in the right direction.

"Now it's in style to support your troops," he said.

"And if at first they're being disingenuous, that's OK, that's all right, just as long as they support the kids who are coming home."