We know who we are, Mary Anne -- or at least we should.

I'm of the impression that we don't really lose who we are, but we just set who we are to the side for a time. The difficulty with this is that it sets the moral code for those you represent.

The American Soldier has been schooled over and over in the art of diplomacy. When overseas, we are all ambassadors for the United States of America. we are who they see, and we are the ones tasked with impressing upon the world our own acceptance.

In times of strife, as during war, our ambassadorship continues, but the average soldier becomes more concerned with getting back home alive and in one piece than with impressing those he confronts with his acceptance to the world stage. At this time, he will do things he normally would not, and even things he never dreamed he would consider as to be option. The person was is set aside for the duration, sort of tucked away in a back pocket for a while.

He can find himself again, provided he wants to, and that he, as well as we, can learn to accept the environment that required him to overwrite a number of personal moral values. With patience, a lot of very painful soul-searching, the will and determination to win, they can be overwritten again. Will he be the same person we all knew and loved? Of course not -- but he will be better than he could be.

What you're speaking of, however, is an overwrite of the moral standard for all of America. Can this be recovered?

Wow. That's a lot of overwriting. And the issue with this is that the counselors America will turn to will be neighbors who have undergone the same overwriting. Is there help for the insane where the doctors they run to are also insane?

Recovery is doubtful, but I believe it could still be achieved. It's like a pendulum swing. Our moral pendulum was hit pretty hard in September, and has not yet ended its outward swing. The month of October seemed to fly by for me, with visions of the attack, fluctuating numbers of the dead/missing, military deployments, political journeys to far off lands, bombing, attacking, spying, fighting, fleeing... On this road to the demise of the Taliban, there can be no turning back.

And if bin Laden is captured alive, will he even make it to trial? Will he be killed in his hole by a thundering bunker-buster, or perhaps an overzealous young sharpshooter? Will his plane be shot down as he is being transported to the U.S. for trial? Will he be gunned down on the steps of justice, at the entrance to the Supreme Court of the United States of America?

Well, it’s not like he was winning many friends here.

The future will have to tell. I believe that the only way to ensure his survival for trial is to have the entire process televised, but handled in absolute secrecy -- that is to say with no one, other than those directly involved, knowing the location of the trial, even as far as in which state it will be held. Of course the media will eventually worm the information out, but a serious, all-out attempt for real justice must still be made -- for America’s sake.

Dan