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LAST Jan. 17, the air war that opened Operation Desert Storm began. Butthe Gulf war consumed the world's attention for far longer than the 40 days of combat. For months prior to the war, the media in the United States were filled with stories of two-soldier families scrambling for child care, small towns losing police chiefs, and female soldiers adjusting to life in the desert with their male counterparts.Then it was all over -- the parades came and went, and all those yellow ribbons that had festooned American town halls and front doors were taken down.Since then we've heard little about the 541,425 Americans who served: a few reports of homeless vets and nine-months-later "Gulf Stork" visits. What has happened to those who returned?How are they adjusting?In reports from several of its US bureaus, the Monitor offers a glimpse into the lives of some of the US's Gulf war veterans one year later.