Soldiers often say, We GId the place. And when an area looks good, soldiers may say the area is GI. Strangely,though, GI can also mean poor work, a job badly done.

VOA: special.2010.03.07

However, opposition soldiers have recently spoken about responding in kind to kidnappings and killings conducted by what they say are soldiers and pro-regime thugs who are often from the Alawite minority.

WSJ: U.S. Blasts Russia Over Syria

"Often we hear people say, 'Yes, we support the soldiers, but we don't support the cause, '" he said.

BBC: Public 'must back Afghan cause'

And really what you hear in the field, sort of privately in conversation with soldiers, is a little more frank and a little more, I would say, realistic than what you hear often from people in the Pentagon.

NPR: Murtha Raises Question of Troop Sentiment on Iraq