Regarding my objection to Jack Murtha’s proposal for “two years at home” between deployments, some reader reaction:

When I was at sea in the 1980s, in peacetime, we didn’t spend two years between deployments. Neither did the Marines I was on shore duty with.
Murtha has picked a course to make the actual use of the Army and Marine Corps impossible, anywhere.

On the other hand:

As a foreigner and a person who has never served in the military, I don’t think you are remotely qualified to comment on how the US Military makes its personell decisions. I have served over 10 of my 19 years in the military overseas and it is wearing in a way that you, who has probably spent all of your time “on the continent” in the Intercontinental sipping your champagne brunches on the Grand Canal in Venice cannot possible comprehend. STFU.

Believe me, ten years of champagne brunches on the Grand Canal can get pretty wearing, what with Sean Penn swinging by for awards ceremonies every couple of weeks.