War is not fun and games

EDITOR,
I am a Vietnam veteran. I was an ordinary soldier, thrown into the midst of a war I didn’t ask for. I spent a year never knowing if I would make it back to the real world. The reality of war still lives with me.
The Civil War re-enactment in Felton is an adult game, reminding us of the division that existed in our country and the terrible war that sprung from that division. The booming and shooting are spectacular, men dropping from imaginary wounds.
Real war is not a game. To me, the sound of gunfire stirs memories of fear beyond what some people can imagine. Luckily, most people have never experienced a situation where life or death is inches away.
I think we have lost the meaning behind displays of mock war. Reverence for those who died is replaced by the exciting entertainment of cannon shattering the still air. When I hear the cannon, I think of the death and injury caused by such a weapon. It still makes me shudder. Incoming?
Paula Cordes has a good point about silencing the cannon — not because of the noise, but for what it represents.
Children grow up believing war is fun. All the boys I grew up with thought so, too. Some of those boys never made it past their late teens, or early 20s.
There is nothing honorable about killing another human being. We do it because of someone’s greed for power and wealth — we are pawns, no less.
I have no major objections to the sounding of cannon and gunfire. However, silence allows us to reflect, feel and be better people, helping us to not make the same mistakes of the past.
Honor the dead with your heart, and not necessarily with the instrument of their end.
Bob McMurtry, Felton