Re “Trump, Hegseth lecture military brass” (Oct. 2): President Trump said Tuesday that U.S. cities should be “military training grounds.” While it’s likely that our military leaders were shocked by this suggestion, some people may think that it’s a good idea. It is not. I watched as martial law was declared by an autocratic ruler in South Korea in May 1980. The next day troops were on the streets of Gwangju, where I was. Peaceful protest marches were met with truncheons and bullets, and within two days, hundreds of people lay dead — at the hands of their own military. The outrage by citizens that I witnessed led to an uprising.
I’ll never forget when a local policeman was surrounded by citizens asking, “What’s going on? Why are they killing our sons and daughters?” They all said, just as we say now, “Soldiers do not belong on our streets and in our cities!”
— Paul Courtright, Rancho Bernardo