  We present an approach to the bright soliton solution of the NLS equation
from the standpoint of introducing a constant potential term in the equation.
We discuss a `nongauge' bright soliton for which both the envelope and the
phase depend only on the traveling variable. We also construct a family of
generalized NLS equations with solitonic sech^p solutions in the traveling
variable and find an exact equivalence with other nonlinear equations, such as
the Korteveg-de Vries and Benjamin-Bona-Mahony equations when p=2
