On Saturdays, during my customary long reading sessions at Panera, my wife and I have struck up a friendship of sorts with two former military intelligence officers. No names that I'll share here. One is in his mid 80s. He spent time learning languages at the military's language school in Monterey, California before embarking upon a career in Asia and Europe. He obviously can't share a lot but he's fluent in French and told me how he dressed up as a French priest to get through checkpoints during the Vietnam war. The other gent, in his late 70s, also spent time in Southeast Asia. Both men are politically to the left of me and openly express how stupid our misadventures were in Vietnam. They rail against Trump and the GOP and we have the best time. It's like I'm hanging out with cool, funny and wise uncles! 

Peter T.