CONTINUING THE REVERSE-VIETNAM THEME, here’s an article from the Christian Science Monitor on how the troops see the war. It’s quite different from what’s on the news:

Like many soldiers and marines returning from Iraq, Mayer looks at the bleak portrayal of the war at home with perplexity – if not annoyance. It is a perception gap that has put the military and media at odds, as troops complain that the media care only about death tolls, while the media counter that their job is to look at the broader picture, not through the soda straw of troops’ individual experiences.

Except that for the most part, what we get from the Big Media is just a different (and utterly predictable and negative) soda-straw view. You want perspective, you have to go to places like StrategyPage. Or blogs like The Belmont Club.