Re what I said about war in the May 9 issue – from JM, an old friend and Vietnam War veteran: 

“I believe everyone underestimates the common man. When I was 17, I believed exactly as [you] did. I thought that volunteering for medic school would allow me to not have to carry a gun, but I did not get that assignment, after which I had to make the best of my bad situation and try to survive. I had a nagging sense of duty to which I anticipated a sense of shame if I did not answer it. It was a nightmarish time of my life.”