This summer, I had the privilege of working with a Marine lieutenant colonel who led the successful effort to secure the district of Al Qaim, in Al Anbar, Iraq. He was one of the few military officers practicing counterinsurgency strategy before counterinsurgency was cool. His area of responsibility had two forward operating bases and a radio relay tower.

Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United States encouraged many American Catholics to reflect on their faith. Speaking about the tendency of many practicing Christians to ignore the teachings of the Gospel that challenge their daily practices and desires, the pope proclaimed that “[a]ny tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be resisted.

Imagine that an RA, walking through a dorm at night, hears a noise that sounds suspicious, so he knocks on the door. He eventually gains access to the room and realizes that he has interrupted a sex act between two male students. He reports the incident to the administration. The president oversees an investigation into the sexual identity of the two students.

I took Chinese during the first semester of my freshman year and intended to major in economics. My reasoning was simple: Chinese was a difficult language that would be difficult to study independently, and economics was something I was unfamiliar with. I figured that since I was attending a top university, I should take full advantage of the courses that would pose the biggest challenge to me.

The Korean peninsula is one of the most remarkable places on earth, but it is also one of the least discussed, except when Kim Jong-il is portrayed as a diabolical puppet in film or when his regime conducts a nuclear test. Considering our shared history, it is rather striking that Americans seem to know and think so little about Korea.

I always find it fascinating to hear what people of ideologies and from countries at odds with the United States think of our capabilities.

On a few occasions while stationed in South Korea, I had the rather unsavory job of visiting a variety of bars and clubs outside American bases to conduct operational security and courtesy patrols. Either in uniform or plainclothes, we would step in and out of places frequented by GIs looking for trouble. Mostly, we just bumped into prostitutes and “juicy girls.”