The only difference between war and rape is that sometimes war is necessary. And for at least one side, it is usually unavoidable. I suppose you can say the same thing about rape. We have war games and simulations, but do we have rape games and sims? We have war heroes, why not rape heroes? We have war movies...and we have rape movies too. Well, let's not go there.

No, I'm no pacifist. I don't like getting sick either but that happens to me periodically, no matter how good my hygiene; one day its going to kill me if accident...or war...doesn't take me first. And like most men who've never actually experienced combat, I'm fascinated by the process and ethos of war, by its ultimate sacrifice and effort and hideous complexity and the ingenuity it brings out in the dying. War is the ultimate chain saw duel in the dark. But do you know what the first thing you notice when you arrive at a front-line combat unit is? It's how bloody young everyone is, especially you.