"It is hard to tell whether this extraordinary forbearance is a product of some deep emotional delusion or an admirable quality."

It is hard to tell whether this reporter's extraordinary piece is a product of some of another anti military/war agenda or thoughtful yellow journalism. /sarc off

Just another hit piece attacking the war by using the military again:(

Mark - concur withthe final statement.  The MSM encountering a real honest to God soldier is like the proverbial "Cow looking at a new gate." 

Unless you go through hardships and lack of amenities, like we do in Iraq, you never really understand how much you miss the little things.

Thank goodness the defense of the United States does not depend on the New York Times or the self indulgent feel goodism of a twit like Ginia Bellafante.

It is not surprising that heart and soul of a warrior is incomprensible to the New York Times. The Times and their ilk battle nothing but conservatives.

What was going through her head..."Oh my God! You're a real soldier back from Iraq and you're not batshit nuts and psycho and full of rage and post traumatic stress disorder and not going to shoot up a playground !  That just doesn't make sense ! "

What the hell does a tv reviewer know about real life anyway!!?   

The best chow hall in iraq is the one at balad aka anaconda. they had a make your own omelete bar.

If you believe the MSM, the military is full of stupid dead end kids, average age 18, unlikely to amount to anything without the military's job training and educational benefits, on the edge of a mental breakdown, and people.... excuse me, children... who need to be kept from harm's way. It's a wonder our military men and women have any morale at all, given the insulting portrait painted daily by the media. They deserve so much better than they get from this country.

I've seen a few remaining "United We Stand" signs and bumper stickers around here. I remember the spirit in which they were posted. Tragically, it has become a sad joke as the years have passed. A remnant remains faithful, while the rest of America continues in liberal-inspired delusions.

When you put the clowns in charge, don't be surprised when a circus breaks out.

"But although Lieutenant Maloney has seen bad things happen both to the good and the wrong-minded, he seems immune to any genuine tumbling of the spirit. He had viewed going to war as an opportunity for growth,

  She is 'projecting' her own insecurities on the soldier and thinks he must have those insecurities because she does and he can't be superior to her.  After all she's educated and has a higher station in life than a mere soldier.

“…… It is hard to tell whether this extraordinary forbearance is a product of some deep emotional delusion or an admirable quality."

It is obvious that Ms Bellafante has no recollection of a little skirmish called WWII, where the soldiers had it 1000 times worse than today’s soldiers yet, when the war was over, had no time  for “tumbling of spirit” but, instead,  went right to work building  the most prosperous, and yes, the most powerful  nation the world has ever seen.

If this is “symptomatic of a deep emotional disorder”, then I say, let's have more of it.

And, speaking of a ‘deep emotional disorder’, the NYT, having failed to disrupt the war in Iraq as it did in the 60s with Viet Nam, is now trying to do it by getting into the psyche of our soldiers and openly questioning their stability.

It’s a nice gambit, Bellafante, but it won’t work.