At Post 2329 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, a war hero gets respect. Here, the boom of Army artillery from nearby Fort Lewis is no annoyance - it's the sound of freedom.
Here, one would assume, Bob Dole can count on a roomful of votes.One would be wrong.
"Never assume anything," P.J. Vasseur said from his perch on a corner stool at the bar. "Only second lieutenants assume. That's why they're always falling on their swords."
Vasseur, 50, says he was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He says he was there five years and enjoyed every minute. He says he killed a lot of people but they deserved it.
He makes war sound simple and does likewise for this year's presidential race: Dole is too fixed on the past. President Clinton is forward-looking but weak-kneed in foreign affairs. Ross Perot is arrogant.
"Ralph Nader. That's who I like," Vasseur said. "Nader has always fought for the right thing. Is he on the ballot?"
National defense is suddenly a big issue in the presidential race. Minutes after U.S. cruise missiles struck their targets last week in Iraq, pundits started assessing how Clinton stacks up as commander in chief and how he compares to Republican challenger Dole.
But such questions always have currency in Tillicum, a little town 40 miles south of Seattle.
Along Tillicum's main street, off-duty soldiers frequent fast-food restaurants and barber shops. A few blocks away sits VFW Post 2329, a brown-shingled house with a mossy roof and a neon "OPEN" sign out front.
Inside are men, and a few women, united by a love of their country and divided by their views on who should lead it.
Bob Dole, a World War II veteran whose withered arm bears testimony to his wartime heroism, gets less support than one might expect. Bill Clinton, a war-protesting child of the '60s, gets more.
"I'd vote for Clinton," said Bill Stahl, age 60 and a 14-year Army veteran who served in Vietnam. "There was a time when I wouldn't walk on the same side of the street as him. But I've changed."
What about Clinton's youthful brush with marijuana? Half the population Clinton's age probably tried it, Stahl said.
What about Clinton's Vietnam-era protesting and his eagerly sought deferral from active duty?
"He was protesting the U.S. government more than the military," Stahl said. "It took me 14 years to figure out the government didn't know what it was doing. The whole war was political. They tied our hands and then said fight."
Clinton's decision to launch a missile attack on Iraq may have boosted his standing.
In an ABC News poll conducted after last Tuesday's first barrage of cruise missiles, 73 percent said they approved of the way Clinton was handling the situation. Should there be another war with Iraq, 56 percent said they would choose Clinton to handle it, while 33 percent said they would trust Dole more.