Letters: Another bad idea in a series of bad ideas

In my military time, I trained at Fort Devens for six months in a communications field. Our training Brigade Commander sent out a call for volunteers to form a crowd control formation to counter protests. It was 1965-1966 and the Fort experienced regular anti-war demonstrations. I did not volunteer. Now during protests, the formation stood inside the gate with M-14 rifles and fixed bayonets as a show of force. It practiced outside my barracks. One rainy Sunday afternoon they were practicing, and an aggressive sergeant came into the barracks asking for volunteers to play demonstrators. I was reading a book and the guy in the next bunk was sleeping. The sergeant asked us to volunteer. We politely refused. He then demanded we volunteer. We refused again. He began banging his rifle with bayone