I miss it: the smell of sand, sweat, and gunpowder, rings of salt from dried sweat on my pants’ legs, and around my waist just under where my armor sits.

I came to think of it as a kind of zen practice: the Zen of not fucking up.

There’s nothing like a military man, even out of uniform.

Such equipment in the hands of Iraq may pose a direct military threat to U.S. and coalition armed forces. We thus have raised the issue with the Russian government a number of times, including at senior levels, and particularly in the last two weeks.

One of the biggest differences in Baghdad, and throughout Iraq... is that the Iraqi military is doing really well, and they're taking over more pieces of the mission. The second biggest difference that I see [between now and three years ago] is the infrastructure issue.

We have kept memorabilia from our days in military service. When we realized that Marge was eligible for a presidential unit citation, and medals and ribbons designating places where the hospital shop docked and she served during the war, I went to work. It took a lot of paperwork and phone calls, but I am pleased she finally will get her awards.