Frank, all my experience means is that the men of our fighting forces are human beings subject to all the good and evil you find in any group of men and women. They aren't superhuman (despite the Defense Department's commercials) and the bulk of the "grunts" that are our front line in Iraq are generally from a narrow sliver of our overall American melting pot.

First, they are primarily from an age group that is just feeling their oats in life. I don't know about you, but I've mellowed considerably from my post high school years when I was aggresive and bold and felt invulnerable to many of life's risks. Life was much more black and white, cowboys and Indians then. I drank more, chased women and had a haughty arrogance that I could never imagine today.

Now compound those traits with the fact that many of those low-ranked enlisted personnel are there because their economics or life history pushed them to the military. In spite of the fact that there it's a volunteer service, it's no secret that the military recruiters often go after a demographic of young men and women that are down on their luck or have troubled pasts. That's not BS. I got to serve in a recruiting office for some of my enlistment and have friends today that are involved in recruitment. While you try for quality in the people you're bringing in, if the quotas start gettting tight, you go after the easier targets even if that means relaxing your standards. Generally that means a typical group of enlisted soldiers is going to resemble more a crowd that delights in watching cage fighting than going to a chess match.

What you seem to perceive from my message is a disparaging of this dynamic. That's not my intent at all. If armies start massing at our borders, I want the toughest, most ruthless guys in our society facing them down. Soldiers are killers first and foremost that have as their primary mission destroying people and things and protecting their comrades. All other parts of their functionality is secondary to that goal which makes them a rather poor ambassador when they're sent to foreign lands.

I'm not disputing the blogs Tom cites. There are certainly good things going on by certain members of our armed forces. However Frank, you're a military man. You tell us what would happen to a member of our military that started a blog that was critical of the administration, his commanders, or his mission. Until you can assure me that soldier's free speech rights (which you sign away under the UCMJ) are ensured, somehow I don't think we get a balanced picture.

Art