[truckster]

I was 15 and lived just outside Ft. Bragg. Half my friends' fathers had been to Vietnam, although my dad went on an unaccompanied tour to the Korean DMZ in 1966. It was a very brutal moment for all of us. I am very grateful to those of you who served there.

On a related note, I feel the same futility and frustration about the buddies I lost in Iraq. We weren't treated like the Vietnam vets (which is still a horrible national disgrace), but the end result was still lives sacrificed with no apparent benefit to our nation. Maybe we haven't learned a whole lot in 50 years.