Late in the year 1990 I met Tim and Sharon Hansen, Fulbright scholars who were touring India. Although they were a good 30 years older than me, we hit off well. Tim gave me a manuscript of a book he was co-authoring, called "Parallels: The Soldiers' Knowledge And The Social Definition Of War." The manuscript consisted largely of interviews with Vietnam war veterans, reliving their war experience. In the introduction the authors mention: This material was made available to us through a unique and interesting process. In the spring of 1989, the interdisciplinary Vietnam Studies Program at the University of Puget Sound began a series of exchanges with the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Program at the American Lake Veterans' Hospital near Tacoma, Washington. Our students believe that the war in Vietnam, and its aftermath have been slighted in their education, and the veterans find it therapeutic to communicate with an age group they have long distrusted. Par...