It was wonderful to get a glimpse of the truth about the Iraq campaign in our War on Terrorism (Times/News, Nov. 9). I would like to publicly thank Sgt. Paige Dahlgard, as well as her brother, Lt. Nels Dahlgard, for their service to our country.

Military reenlistments are up. Those who are serving know the conditions in Iraq first hand. They believe in their mission. They see a phenomenal transition taking place. A tyrant, with America in his sights, once brought unimaginable horror on his country, killing hundreds of thousands of his own people. He was brought down and now there is a democracy taking shape.

Sgt. Dahlgard is so right about people's utopian expectation of instant gratification. Americans have developed an exigent mentality. In part, it is probably due to too much TV and movies. Everything is made right in an hour or two. In real life things take time. We occupied Japan and Germany for some six years following the end of World War II.

War is not an exact science. Look at all the wars in our country's history; you will find a very long list of tactical errors, but we persevered.

It is regretful that a large part of the news media has made a calculated effort to accentuate the negative. If the "greatest generation" media had taken that course we might very well be speaking German and/or Japanese.

With the recent Thanksgiving holiday in mind, I would like to express my thanks for living in the United States of America, for courageous young men and women like Nels and Paige Dahlgard, and for the efforts to keep the battle on the terrorist's soil.

Joan Monteith

Burien