One of the things he could do to open his son’s eyes would be to encourage him to talk with Arthur. He called the vet into his office and told him what he had in mind. He wanted them to go out and eat and maybe he could give him some of the straight story. Help Alex see the horrors of war.

Arthur agreed and later that day asked Alex if he was free for dinner. Phil was with him so he invited the older brother too. It couldn’t hurt for both of them to hear these things. They got to the restaurant and ordered. After the waitress left Arthur decided he may as well start.

“Look boys, your dad wants me to talk with you. You both know that I’ve seen war up close and personal. He wants you to both understand that it’s not all fun and games.” The boys looked attentive but didn’t say anything so he continued. “People get hurt and killed. You’ve both seen my markings, right?” He gestured to the scars on his cheek and they nodded.

“And you’ve noticed that I walk with a limp, right?” They nodded again. “You may not know why.” He brought his foot up next to him on a chair and started to roll up his pant leg. They could see the metal piece that was his ankle.

“These things happen in wars. Actually, I’m pretty lucky. Lots of guys didn’t come home at all. Or came home with bigger pieces than this missing.”

He could see that this was having an effect. Phil looked thoughtful. Alex almost looked scared. Well, war is a scary thing and maybe it was ok to be afraid of it. Almost certainly it was. Arthur hadn’t been kidding that he’d been one of the lucky ones. He hadn’t mentioned the worst of it though. Some guys had come back with all their pieces in the right place but something was broken in their heads. Every night he thanked God that he had avoided that.

Alex spoke first, “Do you wish…that you’d never gone into the army?”

Arthur thought for a moment and then spoke, “There’s an easy answer for that and a very hard one too.” He was quiet for another moment. “Look boys, I know what your dad wants me to tell you. He’d say that of course I wish that I’d never gone in. That I wish I still had my leg and that I didn’t have nightmares about the whole thing.” They nodded. “But it’s more complicated than that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ok, before we talk anymore, I want to put some rules on the table. Your old man wants me tell you about the horrors of war. I can do that easily enough and there is some pretty horrible stuff that goes on in it.” He stopped and looked thoughtful. “Can I trust you guys with something?”

“With what?”

“I want to be able to talk freely with you. To tell you the straight story.”

“Of course you can!”

“Ok, I just need you to understand how important this is. If it gets back to your dad, I’m out of a job tomorrow. If he was upset enough he could maybe even make trouble with the college that I’m at.”

“He’d never do that.”

“I’m glad to hear it but I really don’t want to risk it anyway. Can I trust you?”

They both agreed quickly.

“Ok, I asked and you both said ‘yes’. Now, what was the question again?”

Alex spoke up, “Do you wish you hadn’t gone into the army?”

“No, I don’t. I’m glad I went in and would do it again even knowing what I do now.”

“Even if you’d get blown up again.”

Arthur looked distant for a minute and then began nodding slowly. “Yes, even then.” There was quiet for a moment while that sank in. “You see, there’s a larger picture involved. It would be very easy for me to sit back and say that I got hurt badly so the war never should have happened. It’d be easy but it wouldn’t be very honest.”

“What do you mean?”

“Some problems are bigger than individual people. When a problem gets big enough that nations go to war, then the problem is much bigger than the soldiers that are involved. When I signed up, I knew that those problems were out there and that I might have to face them.”

“But what if the war isn’t worth it?”

“Well, that does happen. And when it does it’s a terrible thing.”

“But wasn’t your war a waste?”

“Vietnam? I suppose in some ways it was. It certainly became one. Look, you’ve seen movies and you’ve heard talk at school. You probably have the impression that day one of the war, everyone opposed it. That’s not true though.

“When JFK started fooling around there, we all supported him. Yes, it could lead to trouble but that’s not really a reason to do nothing, is it? I mean everything you do can lead to trouble somehow, right? Even not doing something can lead to very bad things. After World War II we said that we’d never let genocide happen again. Well, it’s happened about a dozen times since then and more often than not we just sat there and let it happen.

“Your dad’s exhibit has a story to tell. There are a lot of good, very well intentioned people that agree with that story. It’s one that says that war is so bad that it’s almost never worth it. He wants to show the awful stuff that goes on. The debris that it leaves in it’s wake. That’s all true but he’s missing a few dioramas.

“There should be a scene where the invaders attack and devour a village while peace keepers watch from a distance. They could stop them but they don’t want to get their white gloves dirty. If you made the diorama large enough you could show the UN council meeting that discusses all of this murder while puppet representatives hamstring any attempt to help.

“This would be a more full picture. Much more honest. Wouldn’t go over so well, though.”

Both of the boys were stunned and Arthur wondered if he went to far. He’d spent the last twenty years of his life having people assume that he must be a pacifist because of what had happened to him. This was just the latest time, but it grated on him more than usual. Probably because the work they were doing really was important.