NP - The making of a hawk

[Toby G Levy]

Barbara wrote:
> I'd be interested to know how some of our Vietnam vets feel about it. 

Well, I didn't think too much of Talbot's personal statements, although
his article was fascinating and it made me want to find Walter Russell
Mead's book and perhaps read it.  

I was a Vietnam war protestor in college, but directly opposite to
Talbot, I felt that if my draft number came up, I would definitely go
into the Army.  And my number was 33.  I remember listening to the
lottery on the radio like it was yesterday.  I dropped out of college at
the end of the semester and waited for the "Greeting" from Uncle Sam to
arrive.  My feeling then as it is now is that I had an OBLIGATION to
serve when called upon.  If I was to live in the country and reap the
benefits of my citizenship, then I should answer the call.  I thought
that if I wriggled out of it, some other poor soul would go in my place
and anything that happened to him would be my fault. 

And as a citizen I feel it is my right to criticize the government's
decision to send troops.  I am most definitely a Jeffersonian as
described in Talbot's article. As with others on this list, I feel that
the jury is still out on whether the lot of Afghanistan has been improved
all that much by our actions, and only time will tell if we did anything
at all to stop or even slow the development of worldwide terrorism. 

Toby


"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"
 - Mahatma Gandhi

"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."
-Voltaire
 
________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.