I recently pulled what might now be referred to as a “Jean Schmidt” by asking a deployed friend for his opinion on how the war was going. (Note I didn't ask my friend whether we should have invaded Iraq in the first place. As a military professional I'm sure he would regard that question as moot at this point.) The answer I received was less parochial -- and therefore more sincere -- than the one the congresswoman used to send the House chamber into chaos. The answer I received wasn't intended to play to the advantage of either side of the aisle. In the middle of an increasingly polarizing and angry national debate, the answer I received could well be considered ground truth because it is the truth from the ground.

In response to my question about how the food fight in DC was affecting the war effort and his morale, this Army colonel wrote, “My spirits are high because of these troopers . . . We are winning in our area of operations and have kicked the hell out of these terrorists and murderers.  We will continue to press this fight until the day we leave.  The political machinations are not affecting us at all.  We believe in this mission, and we believe in each other.”

They're winning. Them, the ones who had options but chose to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. They're over there in that place you see on TV and the Internet. And they're winning in spite of the wrangling going on between the White House, the Capitol, and the Pentagon, the think tanks, the pundits and the celebs.

As a veteran I'm put off by the rhetoric (and the media's coverage of it) from the far ends of the political spectrum surrounding so-called “support” for the troops. On balance the dialectic is white noise, not to mention by in large disingenuous. The extreme conservative doesn't have the warfighter's best interest in mind any more than the radical liberal does. Sean Hannity is a poseur and Cindy Sheehan is an opportunist. Neither of them knows what its like to serve. (And, by the way, having service members email you does not count as service.)

The draw of service is an intangible, for the most part. You can't read it in a book or see it on a DVD and get it. It lives under lofty tenets like Duty and Honor but it comes down to climbing into the Humvees day after day because the rest of their squad is. Their mission isn't spreading Freedom; their mission is to keep traffic flowing along the airport road. They'll do it, not because the vice president gave them a pep talk from half a planet away, but because the captain told them to and he's a decent leader, even if he doesn't know a thing about hip hop. And they'll do it because a few weeks back a couple of their buddies died when an IED went off next to their vehicle and there's no way they're going to let those insurgent bastards get away with it.

From the safety and quiet of my stateside home I have the luxury of wondering what happened to the moral high ground. I'm dying to know where all the neo-cons went. What happened to Douglas Feith and the spring darlings of 2003 who graced the cover of Vanity Fair and gave whacky press conferences? Goodness gracious, where did they go? And who gave Janeane Garofalo a microphone? Does the majority of the new left not see what a cartoon they are -- like a middle schoolers conception of a Woodstock reunion or a feature length Tommy Hilfiger commercial?

Meanwhile, while we rush out to buy Xbox 360 and Plasma TVs, the war goes on. Stick a yellow ribbon on your SUV or read Al Franken's latest rant, either way our forces will carry out their missions until the day they leave -- a day not of their choosing. My friend tells me they're winning, and I believe him. I believe him because I know he's a leader among the best this nation is capable of producing. They're winning because of him and the hundreds of thousands of those deployed with him, men and women who elected to serve our nation.

Do you believe him? If not perhaps you could spend a few days in places like Jacksonville, North Carolina or Hopkinsville, Kentucky. There you will walk among heroes. You won't know it, of course. They're not given to displays of self-aggrandizement. The man next to you could have been awarded a Bronze Star, and beyond him if you look closely enough you might see that that woman's leg is artificial below her right knee. In fact, dozens of those around you are headed back to Iraq in a month or two, but you won't hear them complain. For now they're just trying to manage a few days peace with their families. Over-task them; under-equip them. Watch them win.

And they will win. They already have. They won the day they dedicated their lives to something bigger than themselves. So keep the arguments going -- after all, the lawmakers and TV personalities tell us that's what democracy is all about. But don't worry about confusing the military with your opinions regardless of whether you paint yourself red or blue. Those on the ground know ground truth.