[VOA]

American soldiers are also much more optimistic than American civilians.

Because...
1. They don't have all day to sit around listening to ABC/CBS/NBC/CNN
reporters trying to bag Pulitzer Prizes for doing a repeat of their
effort to help the enemy win during the Vietnam War.
AND, perhaps more importantly...
2. They are on the ground and actually know what's going on.

[angkor]

American soldiers are also much more optimistic than American civilians..... Because...

Because there is a (thankfully) short supply of the seditious Iraq Stars & Stripes in chow halls throughout the AOR. AP and Reuters crapola, with occasional filler from the LA Slimes (e.g., the full front-page obit to Marla Ruzicka of Medea Benjamin's Code Pink and Global Exchange).