A few years ago, retired Gen. Karl Eikenberry spoke to a full house at Northwestern and asked how many of the students had parents or siblings who had served in the military. Few stood up. Then he asked the rest of us, ranging widely in age. As the audience began to stand, we could see that the older people — folks around my age — were rising almost to a person. We were the children of veterans of World War II and the Korean War, and the generation that might have served in Vietnam. Those were all wars in which young men were subject to conscription. There may not have been universal service, but the military ranks included every segment of the population.