America is a peaceful nation. Yeah, sure. History reveals that as a fantasy. From 1689 to 1697 there was King Williams war and five years later Queen Anne's war, then from 1739 to 1743 came the war against the Spanish, against the French in 1744 and again in 1754. The Revolutionary war was followed by the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War with ongoing wars against the Indians.

The big one WWI, the war to end all wars, was made more difficult in the face of Woodrow Wilson's attempts at peace-keeping. WWII was going to do it right. Yeah, right! Resounding like echoes bouncing off Gibralter, came Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Korea. Anyone born before 1970 can name a dozen other far away places that took the men into a battle to "protect" us here at home.

No generation in America has come of age without a war, or threat of war, confronting it.

What is it that makes us send our sons off to war? What is it that makes them want to go?