I've been away for some time, and there is a logical explanation. I've been in Afghanistan. Well, I dropped off the board before then, but it makes for a good excuse to strike up a conversation.

In three months I've finally gotten a decent feel for what is going on here, and it's nothing like you could imagine. It's not war as my 18 years of experience, training, and six previous deployments know it. It's really not like any war the United States has ever experienced. I suspect...