"No sane person will willingly face the CERTAINTY of death as the result of their choice of action."

That is the biggest bag of horseshit I've ever read. Any Marine rifleman who has watched a Navy Corpsman go out under fire to save a wounded Marine can tell you that. And read the book "Zero" by Japan's greatest fighter ace - who also happened to go on a suicide mission but couldn't find his target. Drugged? Not at all. How about the Scot's Brigade in WW-I who knowingly stood up and died as a unit in a charge. They had a wake for themselves the night before. How about the Aussies at Gallipoli - they KNEW that when they stood up and moved forward the turks were going to decimate them. How about telling my friend Art Jackson that he is insane, Art earned the Medal of Honor on Peleliu Island during WW-II, and told me he knew he was going to die when he did what he did. He did it out of love. He couldn't stand watching the men in his squad die anymore.

How about the five Black Marines in Viet Nam who rolled onto grenades to save their friends and were subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor. Were they insane?

Until you've been there you don't have a clue how you are going to react. I have an uncle that always said he would be willing to die for his kids. When one of them nearly drowned he sat paralyzed on the shore while my aunt dove in and saved her.

Your Gay hypothesis is one thing - and is something to talk about for what it is - a hypothesis.

But I would suggest you educate yourself about raw courage and the motives people carry when they willingly and KNOWINGLY make the choice to die for their country.

I will apologize for the anger in my posting here - it always pisses me off when people make statements about why men and women choose to die for love.

Especially when they don't know -

And GUEST - old men are afraid to die - that is why they enlist the young to do it for them.

Steve