I am a third generation Mill Valley kid. I joined the Army and never looked back. As GCA said, very few people who live in Marin are actually from there. So, the personality of the county in fueled by people who come looking for the lefty enclave that they believe it to be–which it is.
When I was growing up, I noticed that many of the parents and other adults who were very anti-military and anti-establishment were that way because they were cowards. They wrapped themselves in an anti-military philosophy so that they wouldn’t have to face the fact that they did not go off to war (Viet Nam) because they were scared. Now they may say to their kids that they were to true brave ones, the ones who resisted the draft, for an unjust war. However, in the dark of the night, when it is just them by themselves, they know that they were cowards and let other kids go off to fight and die while they used their parent’s money or connections to stay at home.
I left for the army to fight in the Balkans and now in the desert. I, unlike most Marinites, will never have to feel ashamed when I look into my children’s eyes when they asked me what I did during the wars.
