Father’s Day proves value of, need for dads
Fathers on the fringe did not see their kids on Father’s Day, and many will wish they did. Many deserve a second chance or amnesty at least on this one day. Kids from father-absent homes are much more likely to carry guns and deal drugs than their peers living with fathers. Mothers and children acknowledging these fathers on the fringe might just restrain the next boy contemplating a school shooting. Suicide risk is twice as likely for divorced men as for married men, largely due to the separation between father and child, a University of California study showed. The result is bitterness, anxiety, depression, reduced self-esteem, and a sense of “life not worth living.”
JIM NEEDLE, ATLANTA
Vet says base changes nothing new for military
The Army once had a Combat Developments Command with a mission very similar to the one described in the story, “Army scouting for a new command HQ” (News, June 12). It too was located near a large city: Washington, D.C. In 1973, it was melded into a new command, which drew much of its staffing from an existing command that was then deactivated. Another new command was activated at Ft. McPherson; it assumed the major residual responsibilities of the now-deactivated command. Maintaining a single-purpose installation like “Fort Mac” was deemed too costly, and it closed in 2011. I love the Army. I served in it for 41 years. But sometimes it felt like I was standing in the center of a carousel. The horses went round and round; sometimes they were high, sometimes they were low, they often had different riders, but they were always the same horses.
SHELTON JONES, DECATUR
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