Thanks folks - at least a few people thought it was worth posting. I wasn't sure I should.

It wasn't meant to be about everybody or all possible views. Just one particular man, one particular family. It's not even necessarily about this war. The story isn't any more important than anyone else's. It's not meant to take any political side. I figure someone else can write those songs, and someone else can keep starting those threads. This song's about feelings, not beliefs, not right or wrong.

I guess a lot of kids asked their fathers what being in a war was like. When I was a kid, I DID ask my father if he'd ever killed anyone in WWII. I got the same reaction the girl in the song did. He wouldn't talk about anything to do with the war. When I was older, we had lots of arguments about Viet Nam. He still never talked about his own experiences.