I’m not offended!

[L Verge]

This is not for David's attention, but I was teaching during Viet Nam (one of Gen. Westmoreland's nieces was a student), and our school was right next to Andrews AFB, so many of the parents were deployed to the war zone. Try explaining the actions of some of the U.S. public to those students (all were teenagers). I am happy to hear that David did undergo the draft and basic training and that he did not get combat duty. That leaves him here so that I can disagree with him.

I should also mention (probably have before) that, as the war dragged on, some of my early students dropped out of school and joined the services. Many of them were African American and saw it as an opportunity to get an education, if they managed to dodge the bullets. One of the saddest days of my life, however, came around 1969, when a former student (white, not that it matters) showed up at my classroom door one day in full Army uniform. Ronnie had been a problem child that I had crossed swords with nearly every day. He had come to tell me that he was headed to Viet Nam -- and also to say that he wished he had paid more attention to what I had been trying to tell him because he had to learn it the hard way through Army training.

About six weeks later, I got a message from his mother that Ronnie had been killed overseas by enemy fire and would I please come to the viewing because I was one of the few teachers that he liked.

I also lost a high school and college classmate over there. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. Google Capt. James Graham. I live about fifteen miles from the Viet Nam Memorial and have yet to visit it. I don't want to see those two names - nor find others that did not come back. Plus, that memorial is near the Korean Memorial. My father went through that war (and WWII) and survived, so understanding military hardship and sacrifice is part of my DNA.

As for female equality, I have not taken an active role in that. I feel that each person has the right to strive to be the best they can be at whatever they choose and that pay should be equitable across the board.