Bobert, the guy was drunk, and I knew him from before my NG unit was activated. He was a jerk than and he continued to be a jerk. He's also dead, killed by his alcohol addiction; fortunately he left no spouse or progeny or much of anything else, actually.

I sat in the SEATAC airport with other veterans, when I was coming back from Korea, with Woodstock returnees across the aisle. We stared at each other, and I thought that except for a roll of the dice our places could have been exchanged and no one would know the difference.

After I returned I helped two guys obtain CO status.

Ellen, soldiers are people. I never met anyone in the Infantry who was both sane and in favor of war and killing -- in fact, those who'd "been there" were the most agin it. (I don't count the very few psychos, and the military CERTAINLY doesn't want them; when found, they provide psychiatric treatment and a discharge, and often followup psychiatric treatments as well. Such people don't follow orders well, among other very cogent reasons.)

I said elsewhere that I'd shipped off 21 boxes (12 x 12 x 18 inches) of paperbacks with the 1/148 Field Artillery. These are local people, neighbors and relatives and friends and the books were collected for them from donations from the community. Before anyone screams, yes, about four books were removed -- these were self-declaimed pornography and perusing the contents two of us thought so, too. Titles included "Revolution for the hell of it", "Book of Mormon", a BUNCH of science fiction, Tom Clancy, various bodice-rippers, a good selection of mysteries, word-search puzzles, poetry, "100 years of solitude" (in both Spanish and English) -- the sort of thing you might find in your own home. Support the troops, not the war seems to be the watchword around here and I can agree with it.