Veterans know that war is hell

Most of you observed Veterans Day on Wednesday with tributes to those who served our country in the military, especially those who died doing it.

But unless you've been there, you cannot imagine how military service can range from heavenly pride to absolute hell.

My service in the 86th Infantry division in World War II left me with this mix of memories:

The hell of fighting the Nazis in Germany, with Gen. George Patton's Third Army.

The heaven of VE Day, when we ended up near Adolf Hitler's birthplace.

The hell of being ordered re-deployed to the Pacific, where a pending invasion of Japan would have been another Normandy.

The heaven of VJ Day after the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan while we were on troop ships in the Pacific.

Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman summed it up when he said, "War is hell."

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower said, "You, who have carried the fight to the enemies of right and peace, hate war with an intensity known only to the veteran."

Some presidents don't understand it. But President Harry S Truman did. That's why he ordered the atomic bomb dropped to end World War II.

President Obama now has an opportunity to demonstrate whether he gets it or not as he decides what to do about Afghanistan.

Osama bin Laden and his gang are long gone from Afghanistan, hiding in Pakistan. Sending more troops to prop up ungovernable Afghans would border on hell.

Instead, he should start bringing troops already there home.