Using Current Population Survey data for 1967 and 1979, this paper compares the earnings of Vietnam veterans to those of Korean veterans (in both cases, relative to nonveterans) at similar points in their work lives—twelve to sixteen years after their discharge. In both 1967 and 1979, the unadjusted average annual earnings of veterans and nonveterans were similar. But an analysis that controls for such factors as education, age, race, and marital status shows that Vietnam veterans were worse off than their nonveteran contemporaries in that their rate of return per year of education was much lower. By contrast, Korean veterans were economically indistinguishable from nonveterans.