Although the Japanese have always had a tradition of fighting to the death, they only organized and trained formal Kamikaze squadrons after their Navy ceased to exist as an organized force and it became clear that their line formations were decimated. They knew they could never defeat the US Navy, but they hoped inflicting high casualties on our forces would get us to negotiate more favorable terms for them. It didn't work, so they died for nothing, as did a lot of our boys.

I would have liked to see Moore develop his idea of Cylon captives held as hostages, another ugly aspect of modern warfare.

As for sending kids off to die in hopeless causes, all military organizations do that, to one degree or another, either by training, discipline and coercion, or by appealing to adolescent psychology, patriotism and group dynamics. In the mideast, religious fanaticism is also employed.

We form an idea of the military from Hollywood: grim, determined, wisecracking thirtysomething heroes. But when you show up yourself all you actually see around you are scared and homesick teenagers, zits and all. We may call them "our fighting men", but as you get older you start thinking of them as just "our boys".

In a conscript military, even the lifers usually retire by age 40, so by my age what you see is an army of little boys led into battle by men young enough to be your children--or even your grandchildren. We have a professional, all-volunteer force now, so its not quite as bad it used to be, but its still enough to break your heart.