Peg didn't want me to wear this shirt today because she didn't want me to dis my service. And the shirt might be interpreted that way - the Viet Nam war was not a game and the idea that we came in second place is undoubtedly troubling. But I'm an educator and it seems to me that the shirt provides an opportunity for education.

What lessons could this shirt teach? I think the primary lesson is - don't send us to fight a war that isn't justified (and Just). A corollary to that lesson is don't send us to fight a war that we don't intend to win. I might say don't send us to fight a war that can't be won, but sometimes a lost cause is worth fighting for. Truth be told, I'm not sure what "winning" looks like anyway.

I gave a talk about my time in Viet Nam at a local nursing home yesterday, during which I stated that one of the reasons I enlisted in the Marine Corps was to help the South Vietnamese, because I thought they wanted and needed our help. My first patrol showed me otherwise. Perhaps I should have realized that before, from all the news and opinion that was flying around in 1967. In fact, one of my friends said something along those lines, referencing Frances FitzGerald's excellent book Fire in the Lake. Only problem is - that book was published in 1971. I don't think the nature of that war was as clear to the average U.S. citizen as it should have been to the policy makers who sent us there.

I suppose that's another lesson from my shirt: keep a close eye on the people who are making the policies that result in wars like Viet Nam (are you listening, George W. Bush?).

I'm often asked how I feel about people who protested against the Viet Nam war, and I think most people who ask that question expect me to say that I despise those people. I don't. One of the freedoms we were supposed to be fighting for (perhaps the most important reason) is freedom of expression - freedom to criticize your government. That freedom means nothing unless people actually use it. I think that's another lesson from my shirt - and I think I'll spend some time in my classes today talking about those lessons.