The Right Way, The Wrong Way, The Military Way: Dateline Bagram, Afghanistan. Two Afghani citizens are beaten to death by U.S. military police. Army investigators determine determine they "could never see any criminal intent on the part of the M.P.'s to cause the detainee to die," and they end investigations into the cause of death.

Here is "the military way": A good soldier always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS tells his superiors precisely what they want to hear.

To date, 27 soldiers have been charged in abuse cases at the detention center in Afghanistan. An organization as large as the U.S. Army is bound to attract all sorts of people to it, including sadistic scum like those who committed the atrocities in Afghanistan. It's time to stop pretending the ad copy that the government uses in its recruitment. Not everyone in the military is an honest to goodness hero.

An organization as large as our army is going to contain a cross section of the general population, and this one, which contains only volunteers who agree to do a very nasty job for low pay, is likely to be "more average" than most. For the army to function in a fashion that adheres to the standards we demand of it, we must be ready to admit its mistakes. As quickly and honestly as possible.

Pick it up, troop, and if you can't pick it up, paint it.