ABSTRACT
Peter has an unquestioned identity as a war hero. Now, in his 60s, he stands naked before his mirror. He gazes at his battle scars. Wrinkles, gray hair, withered muscles disappear. Each morning, in the mirror, a golden warrior awakens to look upon himself. And then, a good officer moves out among men. A year after arriving in Vietnam, he ordered the firebombing of a village. His orders set mothers and children and infants on fire. While he watched. While he, himself, shot the elderly and the unarmed. There is some sadness about the burning of children. But his soldiering is always told with a quiet, prideful gravitas to a civilian who knows nothing, who was protesting the war when he was fighting it. Conditions were chaos. He was fighting for American freedom. It was guerrilla war; the enemy was everywhere. There was nothing for it, but a scorched earth.
