Susan Collier Lamont ’70 may want to actively discourage young men and women from joining the U.S. armed forces by “counter-recruiting at local high schools,” but I am proud of my sons, both of whom are recent college graduates (Tufts & Lafayette) and members of the U.S. Army infantry stationed at Ft. Benning, Georgia (“In Harm’s Way,” Mail Room, November/December). I am proud that they recognize that the life of privilege we enjoy is worth defending.

It is a shameful irony that such bastions of security, opportunity, and individual freedom as the Brown community fail to acknowledge that such privilege is not free and not guaranteed. It is not a birthright. It came at an enormous price paid for by many of our fathers and ancestors. I believe it is a mistake not to recognize that this privilege is in serious jeopardy and must be defended now, as much as ever before.
That Brown does not promote ROTC, encourage military recruiting on campus, or present the option of military service as a career of immeasurable importance, value, and reward is wrong. Who do we expect to bear the burden of the defense of our privilege and freedom? The poor? Members of racial and ethnic minorities? Because of our disdain for all things military, people who in their wildest dreams could never imagine a place like Brown must fight for our warmth, security, opportunity, and freedom.

Mark G. Rovzar ’73
Cranston, R.I.

To preserve, protect, and defend the U.S. Constitution is the reason I enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1968. When we in the United States express our opinions, our views, our hopes for peace and justice in the world at large, let us not forget to thank a veteran.

Fifty thousand years of modern human history have taught us that to live on earth is to live in harm’s way. The line between barbarism and civilization is very fine indeed.

I was neither exploited nor cheated in my job assignments when I served in the U.S. Army. I was simply providing for the common defense.

D. J. Maksymowicz ’67
Washington, Mich.