If Susie Hubbard ever had to describe a war veteran, one of the first words out of her mouth probably would have been &#8220old.” Or, at least, older than she.

Even months after returning from service in war-torn Iraq herself, it’s an image Hubbard hasn’t been able to let go of entirely.

&#8220You always associate the older guys as veterans,” said Hubbard, a member of the Mississippi National Guard’s 168th Engineer Group. &#8220I keep forgetting we’re veterans. It feels funny.”

Seventy-one members of the 168th were deployed to Balad, Iraq, about 45 minutes into the trek from Baghdad to Tikrit, last year, and all have returned safely. Hubbard usually served as a chaplain’s assistant, but was also asked to provide security for supply truck convoys; her 168th colleague Jack Dillard was a supply sergeant in charge of helping keep uniforms, ammunition and other equipment stocked. In many ways, he said, the day-to-day requirements of that job were much like the work in the office setting of the 168th’s headquarters just off Interstate 20 in Flowers – except for the possibility of the worst happening at almost any moment.

&#8220It’s like this,” Dillard said from a cubicle in his office, &#8220only with mortars flying over your head.”

For veterans recently returned from Iraq, becoming active in any of the &#8220veterans’ clubs” made up mostly of much older men from World War II, Korea and Vietnam, may not be an easy proposition; for the older vets, accepting the new guys comes faster for some than for others, but the survival of clubs and traditions in the coming decades rests largely on how quickly it is embraced by Iraqi vets.

&#8220What I’m trying to do is get some of the younger people involved,” said Ben Blansett, a Korean War veteran who’s worked with Vicksburg’s Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2572 on Washington Street since 1959. &#8220If you can’t get them in here, before long you’re not going to have a post, because we’re dying out.”

Many young Iraqi veterans have signed up for the VFW, especially during the post’s membership drive among new vets two years ago, Blansett said, but almost none have become active members since then.

Dillard, for one, said he is making an effort to be a part of the &#8220veterans’ club,” helping organize the VFW and American Legion parade down Washington Street last Saturday (though he couldn’t march because it was the 168th’s drill weekend) and serving as a VFW junior commander.

&#8220I am trying to get involved in that,” he said.

But, like many young veterans still serving in Iraq, or assisting in disaster areas such as those slammed by Hurricane Katrina, where Dillard will be stationed next month, or reservists working day-to-day jobs, there are fewer opportunities now to join their older counterparts for event planning, or even for an afternoon drink.

&#8220They’re young. They’ve got families,” said Blansett. &#8220They don’t have the time to put in here like we do. We’re retired. This is like a second home to us.”

First, the idea of being a veteran has to sink in for young, recently returned vets; it still hasn’t quite hit Hubbard, though she did admit thinking about it last week when her daughter said her teacher wanted Hubbard to speak to the class about Veterans Day.

&#8220I was like, ‘What do they want to talk to me for?’ She said, ‘Because, Mommy, you fought in the war,’” Hubbard said with a laugh. &#8220I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I did.’”