Rules of Engagement
It's becoming more common: Rules about when, where, how, and against whom military force should be used, are decided by well fed parents, reclining in comfortable chairs, living in gated communities with their well manicured lawns, while their sons and daughters are safely tucked away in plush dormitories, on expensive colleges and universities, as privileged children, whose biggest concerns are finding a date for the weekend and wondering what type of designer clothes are appropriate for their beach party with their friends, while spending monthly allowances that are larger than the annual salary of a marine lance corporal -- even when his family get additional help in the form of food stamps. It is becoming less common: Rules about when, where, how, and against whom military force should be used, receive little or no input from parents, who lost a sibling in Vietnam or an uncle in the Korean Conflict. It is becoming less common for parents, who saw "Grandfather" ret...