Youth, Death and the Realities of War

Re “Gung-Ho, but What Do They Know of Death?” Commentary, March 4: Nancy Bekavac’s main premise is that the young ROTC volunteers she encountered could not know about death or know about alternatives to this service. But many of these young people may well come from families with a military tradition. Many of them may have had fathers or mothers or siblings or cousins or friends in the military, some of whom may have given their lives for the cause of freedom.

As such, these young people may know more about their potential sacrifice than Bekavac does.

I salute these young people, the finest of their generation, who have volunteered in the service of our country. I give them far more credit than to presume that they really can’t understand the nature of the risks they are assuming. Bekavac’s article underscores the sacrifice and service they give to our country.

William T. Parker

San Diego

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Heartfelt thanks to Nancy Bekavac for writing so eloquently about something that should be obvious to us all. The media constantly sanitize and glorify war, while blithely disseminating the Bush administration line that we are spreading freedom throughout the Middle East -- however dubious that line may be.

Despite this continuous barrage of propaganda and the fact that we rarely see the torn bodies, the coffins coming home, or even the notices of our soldiers’ deaths, we must try to stay mindful of the core issue that Bekavac delineates so well. That is, by going to war, we sacrifice those least likely to know any better: our children.

John Sherman

Laguna Beach