Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Jesse Jackson had a rare, brief spell of honesty and said, "I hate to admit it, but I have reached a stage in my life that if I am walking down a dark street late at night and I see that the person behind me is white, I subconsciously feel relieved."

I'd like to pose a similar scenario to the editors of the New York Times: If you were walking down a dark street at night and heard footsteps behind you, would you rather see a random street youth when you turn around or an Iraq War veteran?

The NYT writers, if honest, would most assuredly feel relieved to find the veteran. Our soldiers are the finest people in the world. They return from war, having risked their lives to promote freedom and better the lives of people they will likely never see again, and they are calm, polite, upright young men and women. The actual facts, the truthful statistics, are that our young veterans are 3.5 to 5 times LESS likely to commit murder and mayhem than are civilians in the same age ranges.

Not only that, but more civilians in the 18-34 age range are murdered each year per 100,000 population than are killed in Iraq per 100,000 troops per year.

The evidence is in: Not only does military service make young people calmer, more mature, and less violent, but it also saves lives by putting them into combat where they are safer than on the streets back home.