Citizen soldiers are key to Pentagon's future

They didn’t call him “Tricky Dick” for nothing — and Melvin Laird knew it. The Wisconsin congressman knew what he was getting into when President Nixon tabbed him as secretary of defense. Laird would have to wind down an unpopular war and thread the needle among a paranoid White House, a restive Congress and a powerhouse personality known as Henry Kissinger. Despite these obstacles, Laird excelled during his tenure at the Pentagon. Few have proved a better steward of our men and women in uniform during difficult conditions.