Fair enough question.

I would've tried to avoid combat in Vietnam. Not because stopping communism wasn't important, but rather because that particular war was about as badly managed as a war could be. Had I been of age, I would also have gone down the conscientious objector route and ended up a medic or in some other capacity. Preferably as an officer or an analyst.

My father had just gotten out of the service in 1964 and had top secret-crypto clearance. He was also a medaled sharp-shooter. When Kennedy was shot and killed, he transferred the information to the commanding General for US forces in Europe. He missed the Vietnam conflict, but had no political opposition to the war.

I was raised to to respect the military, mainly by understanding what it's good for and what having a strong military means in a violent and often primitive world. On my mom's side all my great uncles served and died in WWII. One died saving a bunch of Italians who fled their AA guns under fire, manning the guns and shooting down 3 planes before he died. Another was a pilot and shot down over North Africa. My grandfather was crippled with rheumatic fever after spending a week in a tree as the Russian army slowly marched past in Yugoslavia, one of the meanest conflicts of the Eastern front. He was the sole survivor of his unit which had been killed in heavy artillery fire. He wasn't a fighter, was already in his mid 30s, and had only been called after Germany was running out of young able bodied men.

So I heard lots of tales about the war and about fighting and serving one's country. I'd like to think all that shared experience has made me a bit smarter in trying to understand how to diffuse conflicts and working to avoid needless death and war. However, protests don't carry much weight with me. Strength has always been the best deterrant. Pacifism is fine when one's dealing with people capable of making that mental and moral leap. This world is not even close to that point yet.

In a den of lions, being a lamb isn't enlightened - its suicide. The answer is to be a lion with sharp teeth and growl when another lion threatens, even if you don't intend to attack. Then you can be left in peace to live your life and not be devoured.

An atom bomb dropped off in Vietnam probably would have ended Vietnam as quickly as it ended the pacific war with the Japanese. And the death count would probably have been less. One can debate that the US already set a precedent in avoiding a long drawn out bloodbath with atomic weapons and that the Russians and Chinese would have set back and watched. One can also argue they would have started using atom bombs too.

Unfortunately, the world we now live in is not safer because of our restraint. Once the 3rd world is fully armed with these weapons the day will come when atom bombs will be exploding pell-nell over the Earth. It wont be the all out conflagration we were told to expect, but nuclear terror and strategic destruction. We may still avoid this future - and I hope we do - but I know my hope may not carry the day.