A friend who used to pull guys out of crashed, burning Blackhawks in Vietnam was walking through the Square at the time, and instinctively began running toward it until he heard that it sounded to be running smoothly, and went back to what he was doing.

Things are already underway when I arrive around noon Tuesday. Cambridge Police Tactical Unit and Harvard Security, both dressed in black, and State Police are all on hand, presumably to protect the army from us protesters.

Much of the Common is barricaded off, to keep protesters out. I circle around to the back and walk through an unguarded area. The Army has set up a medical tent, presumably like the ones in use in Iraq.

Although it’s uncomfortably hot outside, the tent is air conditioned to a perfectly comfortable temperature. The army representative showing people around inside the tent is perfectly polite. It’s all very nice and pleasant. I suppose people, particularly high school aged potential recruits, are supposed to think this is the way it is to serve in Iraq—cool, comfortable, calm and pleasant.

I go into the van to watch the recruiting film. It's bizarre. At one point some young soldiers say individually, in succession, "I am an army of one." And the next: "I am an army of one. "I am an army of one. "I am an army of one." Finally they all say together, "We are an army of one."

What does this mean? I am an army of one, we are an army of one? It's nonsensical, and almost seems satirical, like some Saturday Night Live sketch or something. Maybe it works, though.

Protesters were originally allowed in to the main area, but police then kicked them out, perhaps around the time the live video feed began, to the Pentagon and to troops in Iraq.

Earlier, Cambridge teachers brought their third- and fourth-graders to the event. A part-time Cambridge schoolteacher who came this day as a protester was surprised to see some kids she knew there. One of the kids told her he was against the war in Iraq. "I felt like I couldn’t let him take this stand by himself, so I said to the kids, ‘Well, if you’re against the war, stand up.’ Half the kids stood up. I started chanting, ‘Stop the war, Stop the war!’ and they joined me."

"Their teacher had told them it was a history lesson," the teacher-protestor said. "If they didn’t have recruiters there, it could have been a history lesson."

When two Tactical Unit members told her she had to drop her sign, she dropped it and walked toward Mayor Sullivan. "What is going on here?" she demanded of the mayor. "This is disgusting! Why are all these cops here? We were never told we couldn’t be on the Common! [Vice-Mayor] Marjie Decker said we could come here."

Sullivan’s reply, according to her memory, was, ‘I didn’t make the decisions. The city manager made all the decisions."

I sit in the audience for a while and watch the show. Army Undersecretary Dubois says, "There are people who don't want the people of Iraq and Afghanistan to experience the blessings of freedom...We face many of the same problems that General Washington faced in trying to maintain an all-volunteer army."

More staid speeches about military pride follow.

Back outside the barricade, a friend berates a military guy about killing innocents. "You should protest this," the soldier responded, pointing to the front page headline in his USA Today about the Michael Jackson trial.

"Child molesters!"

"The army abuses children, they shoot them dead at checkpoints!" my friend retorts.

Later, during the playing of taps, protest chants can be heard in equal volume along with the trumpet, creating a profound effect. I’m glad the chants could be heard, but they didn’t drown out the song.

I stand at the far side of the proceedings, outside the barricades, but far from the protesters, near where military people and their families sit in the grass. I don't want to yell at these army people. I see their little kids running around.

The atmosphere is like that of a company picnic. I see it's a whole culture. I don't know how to attack it or dismantle it.

Healy and Dubois sign a statement hailing a new co-operation between the City of Cambridge and the US Army.

All the papers reported just two days ago that the army had to lower its recruiting targets, and still couldn't make the new, lower goals.

I'm heartened by the fact that they can't go anywhere without security, even in their own country. The Army needs the State Police, city police and campus police to protect them!

At the end of the ceremony, Mayor Sullivan, dressed in a suit, shakes hands and chats with military people and a few veterans, then rushes off.