Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

GI Joes: “enthusiastically cynical and gleefully bitter”

From a story from Iraq by Nathan Webster in today’s Buffalo News, here’s a good example of a shoe-leather reporter capturing how American combat soldiers talk: Almost to a man, Charlie Company’s soldiers are enthusiastically cynical and gleefully bitter, railing against everything from the morning heat to walking the rocky pathways to the port-a-john toilets; ...

584203_090630_iraq2.jpg
584203_090630_iraq2.jpg

From a story from Iraq by Nathan Webster in today’s Buffalo News, here’s a good example of a shoe-leather reporter capturing how American combat soldiers talk:

Almost to a man, Charlie Company’s soldiers are enthusiastically cynical and gleefully bitter, railing against everything from the morning heat to walking the rocky pathways to the port-a-john toilets; the only complaints and gripes that aren’t respected are the ones that aren’t creative.

“We’re going to do a real good job, but we’re going to complain the whole way,” Vergo said. “Army’s probably been like that since ancient times.”

Army.mil/Flickr

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

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