Down here at the peaceful bottom of the world we haven't sent men off to conflicts - apart from specialists to the Middle east and a few other such things - in significant numbers since Korea
I have a photo on my will circa maybe 1941 where my dad in his army uniform is about to sail for Africa, his brother in his uniform is in training and would sail to the Pacific Theatre next year, and his other brother, in civvies, is about to be shipped off to a conscientious objectors camp for the rest of the war. His wife, pregnant with their third child, and with two small children, was treated as a pariah by the short-sighted, narrow-minded folks of those days, was vilified by the women of her neighbourhood, and she and tjheir children would have starved or frozen to death in an Otago winter if not for the kindness of family and friends
Those were not enlightened times
I often reflect, gratefully, on the fact that, at age 61, I am part of a cohort that represents the first generation - in our country - ever to grow up, grow old and die without being sent overseas to fight in some pointless war
I guess that's progress