William Owens' piece quite good. A factual error however: approx. 2.6 million served in VN, another 600,000 or so off-shore or Laos or Thailand(Korat, Takli, NKP Air bases and others). Larger 8.7 million is about number of people who served in the military during that period. See book CHANCE AND CIRCUMSTANCE for estimates of who served where. These numbers order of magnitude, not precise counts. Error does not in least detract from substance or validity of Owens' views.