Suggestion for the Military

I was just thinking that (on my estimation) the military just issued about 300,000 new uniforms to the soldiers in Iraq. They were all brand new and were made for desert warfare. We have all seen them on CNN. Soldiers are normally issued woodland camoflauge when they start out, and then new special ones if there is a mission that requires it, like the one in Iraq. Now, each uniform has the soldier's last name just above the right breast pocket.

As part of the "hearts and mind campaigns, perhaps the government would be wise, as a nice courtesy to the Iraqi people, to throw on another name tape on the pocket or something. Perhaps the government could put each soldier's name in Arabic on his pocket. We should at least try to get a local to write everyone's name on 100 MPH tape and stick it on to their body armor.

It would make American soldiers more human to Iraqis and allow the Iraqi people to at least address them by name. It is a small cheap courtesy that would perhaps provide a small contract to some local name tape store in Bagdad, it would be a nice gesture to the people and make Americans look a bit less like foreign interlopers. Unlike many cultures who could not care less, Arabs appreciate foreigners making small gestures toward being accommodating like this, and toward communication with them. As it is too hard to teach everyone there Arabic, this would be a nice start.