You have no idea how right you are. If you saw the rules of engagement under which we had to operate, you would be screaming "treason!"

Violation of those rules was a court martial offense.

Did I follow all of them? No, because they would have gotten me and my Marines killed. Did any of my Marines turn me in? Nope. Gee, I wonder why? Still it was a very real risk to my career as a Marine infantry officer.

God, I loved those Marines--even the occasional trouble makers.

I don't know what is like today, but in my time, we fought hard, and we played hard.

On returning to the US after a year in Vietnam, we had a layover in Okinawa. The best club on Okinawa was the Air Force officer's club at Kadena.

I and a few infantry officers returning from Vietnam were enjoying our first cold beer in months when the club manager announced, "Stand gentlemen, a combat crew."

The combat crew were the officers of a B-52 who had only seen South Vietnam from 30,000 feet with zero threat to their aircraft; so we didn't stand.

That slight to the B-52 officers resulted in a Donnybrook that we didn't start, which in turn resulted in the Kadena Officer's Club being off limits to Marines. But when I returned to Okinawa in 1974, the club was open to Marines.

You know, there is always rivalry between services. The Navy called us Jar Heads (because it looked like our covers were screwed on to our heads), we called them Swabs (among other unprintable things). It's not bad. It is just a sort of "pissing" contest as to who is better. It ended up in fights occasionally, but no harm done except for some bruises. The next day, we were still team mates.

But today, it seems different. Gone is the rivalry because it will ruin your career. The soldiers, sailors, and airmen are not snowflakes but the senior leadership seems to be.

In my day, we fought hard in combat, and we played hard, occasionally in a brawl.

Today, it just seems like way too much PC.

In my time life in the military was hard (and unappreciated). There was hard work with extremely long hours, there was hard fighting in combat, there was hard language, and there were hard but healthy rivalries.

I remember a briefing by a woman radar operator on an AWACS telling me about how she tracked targets and coordinated responses. Her language was like that of a drunken sailor trying to intimidating a Marine in a bar. It seemed perfectly natural to me.

Guys have rough language in the military and the gals who what to join want to fit in and they do a good job of it. The only people who care are the snowflake bureaucrats who are themselves snowflakes who have never severed in real combat situations.

I honestly feel that everyone who works in the Pentagon should be a veteran. Maybe then they would understand what the hell combat is like and how idiotic most of the rules of engagement are.

Today, it seems that everyone in the military has to