Clint - I think you are right about that. I know that my brother and two friends joined the Marines when they were eighteen or nineteen. They couldn't find work and didn't want to go to school so... thats what you did in those days.

These were sweet, gentle boys. By the time they had finished basic training, the sparkle was gone from their eyes. Two ended up as snipers. One ended up as an instructor on the rifle range.

When they returned, they headed for the Olympic penninsula.

Yes, its true. They didn't want to live in the so-called civilized society anymore. They grew up too fast and their hearts were broken. Are they psychopaths? No, they were trained killers. Back home, they just didn't trust themselves anymore. Seemed it would be better for everyone if they went back to Nature to try to find some harmony.

Thirty years later they are still working odd jobs and living on the fringes of society. They aren't bad people, just broken hearted and disillusioned. They didn't have much of a chance really, they were just too young and innocent to withstand the horror of war. It is young men like this that pay the biggest price of all. Vietnam stole their youth.