[richardtavor]

Confession is good for the soul. I almost decked a few of the objectors while walking through airports in my dress whites. I figured it wasn’t worth it. At my age and disposition now, I am nor sure I would have the same restraint.

[Chainmail]

Ah yes, confession: when I got out of the Corps in '69 I was still wearing that cursed leg brace when I started college at San Fernando Valley State (now Cal State, Northridge). There was an "antiwar" demonstration going on and one of the demonstrators about or 3 years younger than me accosted me and started berating me about my serving in Vietnam.

I was reasonably mature about it and told him that I believed that it was our duty to protect the Vietnamese allies from aggression.

He shouted at me (for the crowd's benefit, since I'm not hard of hearing) that "if you love the Vietnamese so much, why didn't you just stay there".

I told him that I wanted to but I got shot.

He said at the top of his voice "then you got what you deserved!"

I did hit him, knocking him all the way over the picnic table behind him. A campus policeman ran up and asked me what happened and when I told him why I hit him he said "huh - well OK" and just went about his business and I went on to class.