By DAVID BROOKS
THE NEW YORK TIMES
SOLDIERS in all wars are called upon to be heroes, but American
troops in Iraq are called upon to define a new sort of heroism.
First, they must endure the insanity of war - fighting off Fedayeen
ambushes, withstanding suicide bombings and mortars, kicking down
doors and searching homes.
But a day or an hour or a few minutes later, they are called upon
to enter an opposite moral universe. They are asked to pass out
textbooks, improvise sewer systems and help with budgets. Some sit
in on town council meetings to help keep the discussion on track.
Some act like foundation programme officers, giving seed money to
promising local initiatives.
Trained as trigger-pullers, many are also asked in theatre to be
consultants and aldermen. They are John Wayne but also Jane Addams
(a Nobel laureate and American social worker).
Can anybody think of another time in history when a comparable
group of young people was asked to be at once so brave, fierce and
relentless, while also being so sympathetic, creative and
forbearing?
When you read the dispatches from Iraq, or the online diaries many
soldiers keep, or the e-mail messages they send home, you quickly
sense how hard it is to commute between these two universes. Yet,
their most important achievements seem to occur on the border
between chaos and normalcy.
At spontaneous moments, when order threatens to break down, the
soldiers, aviators and marines jump in and coach the Iraqis on the
customs and habits of democracy. They try to weave that fabric of
civic trust that can't be written into law, but without which
freedom becomes anarchy.
For example, in a New Yorker article, George Packer describes an
incident in the life of Captain John Prior. He was inside a petrol
station when a commotion erupted outside. A mob was furiously
accusing a man of butting in line and stealing petrol. Capt Prior
established that the man was merely a government inspector checking
the quality of the fuel. Frazzled and exhausted, he took the chance
to teach the mob a broader lesson: 'The problem is that you people
accuse each other without proof! That's the problem!'
Another soldier, who keeps a weblog, collects toys and passes them
out to Iraqi children. He took a pile of toys to an orphanage, but
the staff at the place rushed to grab the toys for themselves -
'like sharks in a feeding frenzy', he writes. He has learnt that if
he stations himself with an M-16 over the toys, things go
smoothly.
Another soldier writes of his dismay at seeing Iraqi parents give
their children toy guns as presents after Ramadan. He wonders:
'Haven't they had enough death? Don't they realise how dangerous it
is for a kid to wander the street with a piece of plastic that
looks like an AK-47?'
When you read the diaries and the postings of the soldiers in Iraq,
you see how exhausted they are. You see that their feelings about
the Iraqis are as contradictory as the Iraqis' feelings about them.
You see their frustration and yearning to go home.
But despite all this, their epic bouts of complaining are
interrupted by bursts of idealism. Most of them seem to feel, deep
down, some elemental respect for the Iraqis and sympathy for what
they have endured. Far more than the population at home, the
soldiers in the middle of the conflict believe in their mission and
are confident they will succeed.
When you read their writings, you see what thorough democrats they
are. They are appalled at the thought of dominating Iraq. They want
to see the Iraqis independent and governing themselves. If some
president did want to create an empire, he couldn't do it with
these people. Their faith in freedom governs their actions.
Most of all, you see what a challenging set of tasks they have been
given, and how short-staffed they are. Yet, you sense that in this
war, as in so many others, the improvising skill of the soldiers on
the ground will make up for the cosmic screw-ups of the people up
the chain of command.
If anybody is wondering: Where are the young idealists? Where are
the people willing to devote themselves to causes larger than
themselves? They are in uniform in Iraq, straddling the divide
between insanity and order.
[/quote]
find it very meaningful. 
its sad tt despite their kindness and goodwill, they bear the brunt
of all the worst attacks from enemies who were enraged by what
someone much higher up in the chain of command did.
but well, tts a soldier's life - he has sworn allegiance to his
country, and will do whatever his country commands him to,
regardless of his personal feelings, and his personal safety.