>Based on my reaction to what I've read, I don't think I could ever >presume to debate combat with a veteran. Well said. Nor could I - as though they were the keepers of a knowledge I don't want to understand, and never could. Politicians present a whole 'nother scenario. > I never HAVE done so, but >now I know I never could do so. It would be the height of arrogance >for someone like me -- no matter what my political beliefs -- to >do anything more than listen. And learn. A lesson as a student, I am learning everyday. I find that History is the great teacher, but he teaches in a foreign language most often. >We should only be so lucky as to reduce human conflict to matters of >simple mathematics and other business of the mind. Or even to matters of nature, or instinct... and thank God. >The deeper I get >into the Ambrose book, the less I find myself trusting that there can >be some personal utopia where there is no violence, no war, no >conflict. I will heed your perspective and experience - and pick up a copy of the book. >Is this something Sergeant X came to understand? This, among other things, I believe. > I suggest so, >and that it took form, in part, in his own handwriting on the flyleaf >of the Goebbels book he found among the possessions of a Nazi >official he had personally arrested. I would venture to agree with you on this - Thanks, Dan