By the time I am Howard's age I hope to be long retired. I don't plan on working that long.
It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed.
In terms of the idea of long-term occupation - I have been reading a little bit more about this period - and you can see in that occupation are many lessons for the current occupation of Iraq. So we have these connections that go way back that people aren't aware of.