It's been my experience that US soldiers are on average better informed, better educated, and have a generally better attitude than most other Americans. If given a choice, I would love to teach a class full of troopers. As with any other country, you get a mix of morons and excellent people, but it does seem that USA has greater extremes. Perhaps this is just a product of the large population... but I'm happy to assert that there's a greater probability of encountering the best types among those with military experience. The thing that inspired me to write this was the following profile of one of my regular readers who is currently in Iraq. Here it is:

Bi-Coloured-Python-Rock-Snake: Born in West Africa, I grew up in Wisconsin, studied Classics in Minnesota, traveled 'round the world, then ended up in the US Army
I don't know a lot about him, but from comments I know he's studied Arabic. If he's studied Classics, he likely can read classical Greek and Latin. The thing though, that really impresses me, is the word 'round in his little profile. How many of my students would be able to tell me why the apostrophe is there? Very few. How many would/could write a sentence in which they used an apostrophe in this way? None? An "A" student of mine (with combat experience in Iraq) has just been deployed to Afghanistan. He was studying Farsi in preparation, and wanted some suggestions for further reading. This is the kind of soldier USA is sending out into the world. If only the journalists who write snide things about them were as good.

Here's a link to the Snake's blog.