Sometimes, there’s a stupid sort of contest among soldiers. I’ll call it the “Hardcore Olympics.” Soldiers and veterans will tease each other or argue about who had the toughest job or roughest deployment. At its worst, the Hardcore Olympics will have infantry guys proclaiming, “If you ain’t infantry, you ain’t nothing.” I wish those guys luck without the support of soldiers supplying food, water, and ammo. I say it takes everyone.

One noncombat job that combat soldiers depend upon is what the military calls “commo.” That is, communications. There’s terrible trouble when communications break down.