I thought about posting another article by the Atlantic (listed below) about how the presidency has become impossible, but I've already had this discussion on my thoughts about how the presidency has basically taken on the role of Congress and Congress has basically taken on the role of the presidency. So I though I'd share this article that's well-worth a read for any Americans out there.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/05/left-behind/556844/
It's one of the few out there these days without a Trump hook, and it's about how nearly two decades of war have caused a kind of morale slog amongst the troops--not necessarily because it's gone on so long, but because it's become a job. You go in for a year, kill some insurgents, go home, then come back a year later to find those positions filled again, only to kill them for a year, go back home, then come back to...
It's also about how the partisanship of our current times threatens to override the identity of the troops, about the misconception of troops only identity being the military rather than that every other identity simply becomes secondary. It's a very in-depth and (admittedly long) realistic view of the culture of the military and how two decades of war without any benchmarks or signs of progress have eroded it. Part of the reason I'm recommending it is because it's a non-chest-pounding view into the military and how it works, but also kinda of a good impression of the feelings that hung over everyone back when I was in.
I really feel like I should do a thread here where I share an article every week for people to read, but that'd be pretentious.
(other article) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/05/a-broken-office/556883/