The following from David Ignatius in today's WaPo and a good homage to the troops working overseas these days. My friend Bill Tol said the other day that the military is where the work is these days, and it looks like the troops are hanging together pretty well. As an opponent of those wars, I still have to acknowledge the capacity to deal with the assignments these people are given. The idea of the 'most resilient part of American society' may in fact be the case. BP

Ignatius:

This picture of a traumatized military is misleading. Certainly, the Army and the other services are stressed by the demands of combat. But what's striking to me this Veterans Day is how healthy the military is, given all the weight it has been carrying for the country these past eight years.

Facing a new and disorienting kind of warfare, the military has learned and adapted. Rather than complain about their problems, soldiers have figured out ways to solve them.

In truth, the U.S. military may be the most resilient part of American society right now. The soldiers are clearly in better shape than the political class that sent them to war and the economic leadership that has mismanaged the economy. (I'd give the same high marks to young civilians who are serving and sacrificing in hard places -- the Peace Corps and medical volunteers I've met abroad and the teachers in tough inner-city schools.)

Through all its difficulties, the military has kept its stride. That sense of balance comes partly from the fact that soldiers are anchored to the American bedrock. This includes the stereotypical small towns in the South and Midwest that have military service in their DNA. But it also counts plenty of hardworking, upwardly mobile Hispanic and African American families in urban America that produce some of the best soldiers I know.

I had the pleasure of living in the military family when I traveled for 2 1/2 weeks recently with U.S. Central Command. What I heard, listening into the military's unscripted conversations, were the wisecracks and dark humor of soldiers trying to make the best of a hard situation. But there was also the satisfaction of fighting these tough and sometimes thankless wars: The troops don't boast about it, but they are very proud of what they have managed to accomplish.

For a journalist, traveling with the military is a bracing antidote to privilege. It's about dorm rooms and bunk beds, and roommates who snore. It's about chow halls that serve so much food it makes your eyes pop every morning -- we're talking eggs and bacon, ham, patty sausages and link sausages (two kinds), and we haven't even gotten to toast and cereals.

David Ignatius

WaPo 11-11-09