[Bill Baker]

Originally Posted by Jin-Roh

I have more respect for the soldier that risks the ostracism of his friends, family, community, and country for something he believes in than the soldier who murders simply to save himself from shame.

Tim O'Brien, a Vietnam vet, said it best in his book The Things They Carried, in which he considered running to Canada, but:
"My conscience told me to run, but some irrational and powerful force was resisting, like a weight pushing me toward the war. What it came down to, stupidly, was a sense of shame."

"I was a coward. I went to the war."

very interesting perspective, i must admit