Robert Kaplan is one of the architects of the recent surge in Iraq, and while Democrats may think you have to be fooling yourself to believe it's working, the fact is, it is. It's this root-level understanding of the reality of modern warfare that allows him to speak so eloquently on the needs of the modern soldier.

"The media struggles in good faith to respect our troops, but too often it merely pities them. I am generalizing, of course. Indeed, there are regular, stellar exceptions, quite often in the most prominent liberal publications, from our best military correspondents. But exceptions don't quite cut it amidst the barrage of news, which too often descends into therapy for those who are not fighting, rather than matter-of-fact stories related by those who are."

I've not served in the military, but I've studied it my entire life and have close friends who have served, close friends who are serving, and that description sounds about right to me.

Thomas P.M. Barnett is another recognized expert in the field of modern warfare, and he's got an interesting perspective on Kaplan's article:

"What Kaplan argues here is correct: the art of war has been demoted in the modern world. He sees it more as a fault of Boomer-dominated America (the evil editors in his morality play), but I see it as a fact of modernity.Things get more complex in this modern world that America has done so much to birth. War is no longer the kingpin of international dynamics. It no longer sits atop all relationships, all alliances, all tensions, all bureaucracies."

While I respect the heck out of Barnett, I think he misses the point here. It's not that miltary has a lesser role to play in foreign affairs, it's that the military needs respect for the role it does play. In a globalized economic world, a free trade agreement goes a lot further to ease tensions than an aircraft carrier parked offshore, but that's not to say the military doesn't have a vital role to play in today's global political scene and needs to have the understanding and respect from commanders and civilians alike to effectively act when called upon to do so.

They're not victims, they're not Rambo, they're professionals. They don't want our pity or our adoration, they want to know we trust them to do their jobs when we ask them to do so.

Barnett's understanding of the role of the military in a global environment isn't without historical precedent or without similar problems. The British Empire of the 1880's had the British East India Company and the Hudson's Bay Company and Foreign Service, the military wasn't a big part of that global empire, either. Kipling understood the frustration of the professional soldier when faced with the indignations of uninformed, ignorant and (above all) disrespectful civilians, well enough to give us one of the classics of English literature:

TOMMY

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
    O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
    But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
    The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
    O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
    For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
    But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
    The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
    O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
    Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
    But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
    The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
    O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
    While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
    But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
    There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
    O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
    For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
    But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
    An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
    An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool — you bet that Tommy sees!

May we learn from the mistakes of the past, and may today's poets never have to write this about our soldiers.