This is surely one of America's darkest hours for the military, in particular.

I was in the military briefly; Canadian.  Does that count?  We were big on discipline, very sparse on action, though I did get to fire an FM101 rifle (Belgian, used by UN forces), and toss a grenade or two.  Also got to wear a big Bearskin hat and do the changing of the guard like at Buckingham palace.  We have the same pomp in Canada at Parliament Hill in Ottawa (that's our capital..for you yanks who don't know..).   I remember how the kids used to peep up, as we sweated our *&^'s off in the 90 degree summer heat, trying to make us move or blink.  The piece de resistance were the young babes who tended to get us "agitated".   Aaah...those were the days. If I can get my dad to find any of the photos..I should post 'em here.  They're a riot.

G