What It Is Like To Go To War

Karl Marlantes was a Marine platoon leader in Vietnam, and many years later he wrote a magnificent novel about the experience, the oddly titled Matterhorn. Now he has turned to the question of What It Is Like To Go To War and, more troubling, what war does to the young men who fight it. He raises the question of how--assuming as he does that a military is necessary and that wars are likely if not inevitable--we can go to war with the least possible damage to the nation's honor and to the sanity of our young warriors. Altogether, an admirable reflection on a subject most people would prefer to ignore. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford