After his death, Trillin writes, his parents were left with the unnatural task of deciding how to remember him: as a soldier who died for his country, or as a civilian who was swept up in the current of war.
They are looking at them through a very gung-ho, flag waving, pro-American lens, but they really are grounded in current events and current concepts of war fighting and about first world nations' roles in society.
Discuss the ways that the current state of war might change both of your lives.
We know about Europe's current repudiation of war, the legacy of its two terrible conflicts in the 20th century.
This has already occurred several times in Aleppo, and the battle over the television station offers yet another example of the current way of war in Syria.
Why does he appear to compare his relationship with his father, in this current time of war (never mentioned in "Wheeling Motel"), to the Civil War?
Paul Fussell, a war historian and himself a World War II veteran, said of the current crop of war movies and literature, "They have the same status to me as the romances of Barbara Cartland".
As I mentioned above, Iron Man, for all its disposability, makes a cheerful and unpretentious change to the current crop of war movies.
"It is a stretch right now with the current rules of war and diplomacy, but I think it is going to come," said Ms. Derian, a Carter appointee.
Representative Niki Tsongas, Democrat of Massachusetts, said Panetta's announcement would "finally acknowledge the reality of the current nature of war, where the lines between combat and support personnel are not clearly drawn".
