It’s Veterans Day 2015.

The random assortment of folks at Happy Hour at Wayfare runs the gamut from hardcore US Marine Tommy Waller to vegan singer-songwriter and French chanteuse Sarah Quintana.

Lafayette musician Philippe Billeaudeaux, from Cajun band Feufollet, recently moved to town.

Moon is an artist who tends toward the spiritual and loving end of the visual spectrum and has “Make Love Not War” tattooed on her. She’s also married to a soldier who has just returned after a year on duty in the Middle East.

And then there’s Andrew Duhon – questioning and open-minded – and host Grant Morris.

It’s Grant’s glib and simple question about why do we bother sending our men off to war that brings the vegans and veterans together over a round of drinks in the most intense meeting of the minds you’ll hear on the subject of war, Islam, oysters, the pain a blade of grass feels when a cow eats it and much more.

Sometimes it’s just impossible for the written word to capture the power and subtlety of conversation. This is one such occasion. You just have to hear this.

Photos at Wayfare by Catherine King.