I admire your intelligence and spirit, Realigned. You certainly picked a helluva crowd to try to explain a Canadian soldier's involvement in Afghanistan.
With postings like your last one (did you notice the sudden interval) you have presented a human face to the problem of race, and have caused a lot of soul-searching in place of preachments. And, by golly, it had begun to look like a contest for purity of place and purpose in life. Almost Biblical in intensity, if not proportions.
And I haven't seen one ad hominem response on your part. Congrats.
You don't have to prove your humanity to me, mate. And if I ever wind up in a foxhole (it would have to be on Canadian soil, and in another life, I'm afraid), I'd want your kinda company.
(Duck. Incoming!)