War service rings true

Rusty Nelson (Letters, March 12) seems to advocate shunning wartime military service under any and all circumstances, irrespective of such service having provided a viable identity to untold thousands of anonymous, nondescript and dejected youths, to say nothing at all of it being a deliverance from poverty.

Granted, the day might well come when they are asked to make the ultimate sacrifice or to mete out that last full measure of devotion. But is that such an abomination in a still dangerous and terrifying world where death remains the only “sure thing” for any of us?

For me, wartime military service is the most true and adorable expression of real faith that I know of; in a sense, it even constitutes the ultimate embodiment of all truth. Herein may that anonymous, nondescript and dejected youth lift himself from the mire, not through the actions of man or God but by the raw, naked power of his own soul. Purposelessness creates its own purpose.

“Remember, too, the cleansing rain of widows’ and of orphans’ tears.” – Ambrose Bierce, American author-poet.

Dennis P. Roberts

Spokane