A REFRESHING outlook by Washington Times reporter Jack Kelly about the quality of the men and women of the Armed Forces.

What I saw of women soldiers — who were mostly in these reserve units — made me less wary of the concept than I had been. They performed their jobs well, and cheerfully tolerated living conditions I couldn't imagine my wife or daughter putting up with.

Race relations in the Army in the 1970s were tense. No more. It would be difficult to find more interracial harmony anywhere in the civilian world than there is in the military units with which I spent time in Iraq.

Read it all here.