Kaplan: Warriors Want and Deserve Respect

When the history of the War on Islamofascism is written, Atlantic correspondent Robert Kaplan will be celebrated as the great chronicler of the average soldier's experience. His superb articles in our most significant general-interest monthly and his two recent books Imperial Grunts and Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts give clear eyed, honest, humane assessments of the men and women (but mostly men) who have volunteered to do the awful work of protecting the other six billion people from the people who want to kill us.

That's why his opinion piece in yesterday's WSJ is so important. In essence, he points out that the American elites, including the MSM, are intent on portraying Americas warriors as hapless victims of a misguided military policy. They don't see it that way, of course. Like all soldiers, they are happy to point out every bad decision made by their commanders. But as volunteers, they don't want pity for the choices they have made. They want respect as professionals who know how to do their jobs better than any group of military professionals at any point in history.

Kaplan essentially asks everyone to process the message this way: (a) do you know abut the abuses at Abu Ghraib? (Answer: Of course!); (b) Do you know about American military personnel awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor during the War on Terror? (Answer: How can I if no one tells me?). The fact that the answers are so predictable tells us volumes about what matters to those who deign it their profession to tell the important stories to the rest of us.

Knowing that some who wear the uniform occasionally read this blog, we will say again: soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, you have our utmost respect and thanks. You have taken on an enormous burden that few choose but from which all benefit. In your commitment to your work and your comrades, your focus on the principles that direct your difficult work, and the modesty and grace with which you accept the dangers, the difficulties, the praise and the blame that come your way, you inspire and challenge us.