Valkyrie

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We still get together once a month at the VFW. We drink too much and play shuffleboard and leer at Bess and talk about the old days. And we always get around to how different things are now: everybody out for himself, everybody on dope. Kids today just aren't worth a damn and we all know it. God help us if we ever need them to defend the country. Brad Conner always makes the same remark: when the Russians land at Virginia Beach the only people out there to meet them will be us.

I get scared when I hear that. It's a joke that prompts laughter and raised glasses from Herman and Cuff and the rest. And a knowing wink from Bess. Because it's the truth, we would be alone. But nobody seriously believes anymore that the Russians might really come. Glasnost and all that.

Maybe. But somebody's coming. Unless whatever controls these things has changed its mind, they're coming.

I'm not like some of the guys, refusing to talk about the war, or even think about it. But I've never told anyone about what I saw the first night of the Tet Offensive, except occasionally when I've had too much to drink and nobody listens anyhow.

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