Brawley CA Spreckels (# 0565)

I'm sure that the presence of that tension had some effect on your family life...One of my brothers worked underground on nuclear missile sites during the height of the Cold War. He never talked about that, and he never seemed to be quite 'right' after the military (he petered out in middle age and died young). Looking back now, it would be easy to reread much of his adult reflections and much of the problems in his life as being related to being in that launch-ready position, but there were other things in his life-path that would raise causal questions.

When I was in the military during the Vietnam era, as I matured I began to question how much I should, even in my own non-combat position, share responsibility for tacitly supporting the systems for deaths in Vietnam. I seriously considered applying for CO status, but was already at a point in my service time that getting CO status would have kept me in longer than if I just held my tongue. One of the lessons of life...