Hooraaah to #8

Subject: What affects morale?

There has been much debate recently about whether a congressional resolution of disapproval for the U.S. troop increase in Iraq would undercut the morale of forces there. Here an officer who has served two combat tours in Iraq reports on what has affected his morale:

Ten Worst

1. getting blown up

2. buddies getting blown up

3. re-securing a town we secured year before last

4. "Taps"

5. the "catch and release" detainee program

6. colostomy bags

7. civilian young men who won't look me in the eye when I'm in uniform

8. any scene from any shopping mall anywhere in America

9. editorials pointing out that casualties are "light by historical

standards"

10. lies

Ten Best

1. Iraqis willing to fight for their country

2. good sergeants

3. clean, dry socks and T-shirts

4. cigarettes and chai without body armor

5. the USO at the DFW airport

6. meeting an Iraqi leader from my last tour who's still alive

7. "nothing significant to report"

8. sleep and KBR macadamia nut cookies (tie)

9. dead generals (this one is hypothetical, at least for the past six

years, but Ridgeway said "It's good for the troops' morale to see a dead

general every once in a while.")

10. truth

Tom Ricks is The Post's military correspondent. This feature aims to give readers a snapshot of the conversations about Iraq, Afghanistan and other matters that play out in Ricks's e-mail inbox. Have an interesting document? Send it to TheInbox@washpost.com.

OK. I'm done plagarizing other people's work for the day. Except the Great Wall pics, those are mine. Promise.

3,948 Miles, From Shanhai Pass to Lop Nur

It's difficult to capture the vastness of the Great Wall in a picture but if you follow the ridge line to the left you may be able to see the wall snake along the ridge top. For the most part the surrounding mountainsides were untouched. I hope the frenzied Chinese need for development stops well before the wall sightline. Unesco World Heritage Site indeed.

Great Wall

This is reaching back a bit but I thought I'd post some pics from the Great Wall. We did a six mile leg the second to last day. It was a nice counterpoint to the hustle, bustle and pollution of greater China. It was peaceful, and for the time I managed to hike ahead, a brief respite of solitude.

A Picture Can Be Worth a Thousand Words

I never thought my generation and the generation after me would count so many war veterans amongst our ranks. It seemed a term reserved for uncles or neighbor's fathers. No more.