It was just over a week ago, I had the opportunity to shoot it with a former Navy SEAL. No, it wasn't the one Demi Moore tried to portray, as the odds of encountering her are not so good - like say as likely as founding one's self in the presence of Demi Moore (note to readers: my real name is not Ashton Kutcher). Chris was this man's name, actually.

To the point, Chris supports the war in Iraq. Why, I asked? Because the problem of terrorism won't go away on its own, he said. Definitely a pro-active guy, one who didn't see American presence in Iraq as provoking terrorism. He believed the terrorists should be hit hard, then hit harder. Repeat steps one and two until there is no terror.

Chris, in his defense, was speaking from first-hand experience. He's been all over the globe, asking questions first and, well, shooting too. But unlike the majority of the enlisted, Chris earned a master's at the University of Virginia while training as a SEAL. He was required to know his enemy through and through, which is why he studied the Koran for three months.

Granted, and he admitted as much, the politics of war were not his concern. Chris did as he was ordered, with the provision to use his own ingenuity to accomplish the mission at hand. This meant inserting a hand gun into the mouth of his enemy, at times, in order to get information important to his mission. Whether that fell outside of the guidelines of the Geneva Convention, which Chris told me he swore to adhere to, I do not know. But I do know 'all is fair in love and war.'

So, my counter to Chris that American and other foreign presence in Iraq only stirred up terrorism, that he and I would respond similarly to Iraqi military here in the U.S., pretty much fell on deaf ears. I liken much of the Middle East to a hornet's nest - stay clear unless you want to get stung. Chris seemed to see it as an opportunity to take out the whole nest, once and for all. A little insensitive to the innocent lives lost? Perhaps, but Chris could only focus on the enemy. He truly did see things in black and white, and most certainly in good and evil.

At least he did as a SEAL. Now, he is content to drink beer and travel the country, living on his pension. Forty-six years old, with no wife or kids, a retirement check, and he's hardly going to hurt anyone any more. That would require putting his beer down. Seriously, the guy clearly could separate himself from his past, and perhaps for the first time question authority, though he expressed no qualms with the current government. He accepts the lies as a smokescreen. What matters to him is the reality of fighting the enemy, of good conquering bad.

Only a recent incident in which several SEAL's died in a helicopter crash made Chris even consider returning to duty. He knew when he had enough. He did not say exactly when that was, but it was near the end of the Clinton presidency. (BTW, Chris claims it was Hillary who coerced Bill to use force in Kosovo) He showed me a scar on his knee from a bullet he took in Grenada. Perhaps another scar I did not see made him walk away - while he still could walk away. Perhaps it was the countless scars he had inflicted on others, the look in that last man's eyes as he laid him to rest.

Chris told me he had dozens of confirmed kills, the exact number I do not recall, but it was in the triple digits. He scoffed at the Purple Heart, saying something to the effect of how it was a badge to show you screwed up. I asked how he was able to separate himself from his own conscience in order to take orders and heed them with little or no regard for life, least of which his own. His response was simply that he could. Then I realized that was exactly why he was what he was - because he, unlike the other 95+ percent who quit SEAL training, could function relatively normal in spite of all the abnormal he had encountered and experienced.

There were tests constantly being administered by the Navy to try to determine the psychology of those who would make the cut as a SEAL, Chris told me. He said they never could predict who would last based on these tests. Ultimately, only the hell they were put through could determine who would be a SEAL. Chris must have been what no test could successfully predict, for he made it through. He went on to serve all over the world. Apart from his story and visible scars, he was just another guy at the bar with an opinion.