Like me, my grandpa returned to finish school in his late 20's here at Millikin. Subsequently, he was shot down and placed in a prison camp. He carried out the wishes of the government, blowing people up. Maybe it had to be done. It forever changed him.
Wars are good at that.
Governments are good at wars. In response to Post 26, I do agree that the novel, Ender's Game is referring to having children in war in our own society. I think that maybe Card is trying to show that the people that we send off to war are yet still children. Yet, while all of us would think that sending an eight year old off to war was appalling, we have no trouble letting an 18 year old fight. The difference in age is actually quite small.