I saw these guys when I went into NY on Sunday. They had machine guns strapped to their shoulders and bomb-sniffing dogs at their sides. Instead of terrifying me, their presence made me feel secure. I can remember seeing photographs of similar soldiers on the streets of Belfast in the early 1980's and thinking to myself, "I can't imagine what it must be like to live where this is necessary." Now here I am, 20 years later, comforted by the sight of them.