Michael G. Merhige served in the US Army and Marines during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was also a CIA officer in the Far East and in South America and retired in the private sector as a Corporate Development Executive. His book is “Thoughtful Pauses: A Political Philosophy” which has been described as “a gripping and potent work that concentrates on the foibles of the government and expresses the musings of a man who worked within this same government.”

“We’ve been in the Middle East now going on two decades… Why is it that today, if these wars are so important to us over there, there is no conscription, no draft? There’s hypocrisy in these wars.” Michael Merhige, author of “Thoughtful Pauses.”