Shakespeare’s play, Henry V, and Gary Trudeau’s current story in his cartoon series Doonesbury both illustrate the blindness that characterize the wars in which their works are set, the horrendous folly. Each of them illuminates the lives of the combatants, conveys in moving ways the possibility of intense connection of brotherhood within the militia, the loyalty, the resounding sorrow that comes with the injury or death of a comrade.

In the naval ROTC hall, I kept staring at the photos of the chain of command, and at the photos of the recruits, young men and women, in their dress whites. I stared at the flags and the rifles. I looked at the photos and the plaques of the men who were in ROTC during WWII and were ordered out to war with just a couple days notice. I sat with some of the present-day recruits in the lounge as they did homework and watched cartoons.

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers..."
Shakespeare, Henry V

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from answers.com
koan-'A puzzling, often paradoxical statement or story, used in Zen Buddhism as an aid to meditation and a means of gaining spiritual awakening.'

from zenflyfishing.com
'Zen koans are riddles used by masters to confuse and disorient students as a means of awakening. Example, what is the sound of one hand clapping?'

from dictionary.net
koan 'a paradoxical annecdote or a riddle that has no solution; used in Zen Buddhism to show the inadequacy of logical reasoning'