Fifteen years ago this week, I flew a medical evacuation mission from Kuwait just hours before its official liberation by U.S. forces. My flight of two Marine helicopters skirted thick smoke and skimmed along at 50 feet above the desert floor. The skies above us had turned dark; ash sprinkled down from above. Oil residue and fine black dust crept into our eyes, our noses and our ears. The fleeing Iraqis had set the oil fields ablaze, their greatest feat during the 42-day onslaught of Operation Desert Storm.

If our success in World War II had given America false hopes for Vietnam, then Desert Storm imparted to a new generation of bystanders unrealistic expectations of war in Iraq: A quick and overwhelming victory with low casualties by using smart weapons and an all-volunteer military.

The U.S. had its first clear-cut military victory since 1945, despite Congress shirking its duty to declare war ever since the "day which will live in infamy," Dec. 7, 1941.

Led by Vietnam veterans who remembered too well the lessons of Vietnam, the Pentagon overestimated enemy strength in the Persian Gulf War then "pooled" and fooled the media. The [Colin] Powell Doctrine required an overpowering force, strong public support and a clear exit strategy.

Together, it all worked.

Iraq 's military in 1991 had loomed larger than life, combat-proven in a long war against Iran and deeply entrenched in Kuwait behind 12-foot-high sand walls, hoping to bog down the American-led attack in oil-filled fiery traps. After 37 days of unrelenting aerial assault, it took us four days to reach Kuwait City.

The result was a desensitized conflict and a ticker-tape victory parade in Manhattan, ala World War II. I had wanted to march in that parade, to sweep a girl off her feet and kiss her, but I all got was a set of orders back to the Persian Gulf and a cheap Kuwait Liberation Medal.

At first, I, too, fell victim to hindsight and history. As a boy who fled Saigon 16 years earlier, I had been on the losing end of the longest and most divisive war America has fought. Images of refugees scrambling to board the last outbound choppers played in my mind. Yet, beneath our helicopters that day over Kuwait, thousands of allied tanks, armored personnel carriers and troops were converging on the capital like a scene out of the movie "Patton." Liberation was much sweeter than evacuation.

While waiting for the injured to be loaded at the bombed-out Kuwait International Airport on that penultimate day, I stared at the smoke billowing through the brown miasma toward Basra, in Iraq. I never expected to see that awful place again. I was wrong.

In the annals of military history, Desert Storm had been the exception, an anomaly of force on force, open desert warfare, with unlimited air and armor unleashed on an unconcealed enemy. Call it a perfect war planner's dream, an Xbox 360 bestseller. As convincing as the outcome was in Kuwait, no one then could have guessed the long-term effect of not going all the way to Baghdad.

Now, three years into the war in Iraq, our all-volunteer military is still performing admirably, despite not knowing when the deployments will end. Recruiting continues to be difficult; standards are being lowered to meet quotas. In the midst of anti-illegal-immigration sentiments, Army recruiting ads run on Spanish-language radio in Southern California. Meanwhile, President George W. Bush wants to cut veterans benefits to reduce the national deficit while Congress is running from the hard decisions in Iraq.

The biggest impact may be the increasing gap between those in uniform and those wearing civvies. With two open-ended wars sans a draft, apathy is on the rise in America, especially in areas without a high military or veterans presence. War seems distant from daily life, war protesting a vanishing act. No risk, no rebellion.

My desert-tan flight suit no longer fits; my black-green-red-white Kuwait Liberation Medal is lost in my closet. When I last checked, eBay listed 90 similar medals, with a starting bid as low as 99 cents. Will the Iraqis award U.S. troops the Iraq Liberation Medal or the Iraq Occupation Medal?