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Computex: Gigabyte Shows Off GA-X79S-UP5 WiFi Socket 2011 Motherboard (Hi-Res Photos)
Subject: Motherboards | June 5, 2012 - 08:40 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: X79S-UP5 WiFi, x79, socket 2011, Intel, gigabyte, computex
Although Ivy Bridge is the new hotness, socket 2011 is still the company's top-end enthusiast and workstation platform. And to to be forgotten, Gigabyte dedicated some space at its Computex booth to show off a new high-end X79 socket 2011 motherboard. The Gigabyte GA-X79S-UP5 WiFi is a EATX motherboard with a 2011 socket that is surrounded by heatpipes and VRM heatsinks (we recently reviewed the X79-UD5) The board further supports eight DDR3 DIMM slots, eight SAS connectors, six SATA ports, four PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots (up to 3 way SLI/CrossFireX), one PCI-E 3.0 x1 slot, and one legacy PCI slot at the bottom of the motherboard. It also has internal connectors for front panel audio, SPDIF, Firewire (1394), TPM, one USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 headers, and four fan headers (one of which is for the CPU).
Integrated Gigabyte technology includes the company's all-digital and "3D Power," dual UEFI BIOSes, 8 phase VRM, Gigabyte Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi card, 110dB SNR (signal-to-noise ration) HD audio, and 3X USB power and On/Off Charge to charge iPads and tablets even when the computer is powered down. Quad channel memory and socket 2011 processors give CAD engineers, video editors, and other 3D modelers the most performance possible out of a single socket workstation system.
Rear IO for the X79S-UP5 WiFi board includes a PS/2 port, four USB 2.0 ports, a firewire port, UEFI BIOS reset and overclock profile buttons, four USB 3.0 ports, two eSATA ports, a USB/eSATA combo port, Gigabit LAN, optical audio output, and five analog audio outputs.
In short, this is a motherboard that Gigabyte has packed to the brim with features for enthusiasts. Below you will find several high-resolution images of the new socket 2011 motherboard. If your internet connection is ready, dive right in!
Gigabyte GA-X79S-UP5 WiFi Motherboard Images
Overhead view:
Even considering my bias of my favorite color being blue, the board looks really nice, especially the heatsink designs which really make the board stand out.
CPU socket area:
Here we can see the 2011 socket, VRMs, and DDR3 DIMM slots.
More photos after the break!
Introduction and Features
Courtesy of ASUS
ASUS continues to optimize their hardware for the overclocking and PC gaming crowds, but they are also catering to a niche audience looking for ultra stable and durable PC components. ASUS's Sabertooth X79 motherboard is their one of their latest products to bear the TUF series label and sport customized hardware and thermal components as well as a desert camo color scheme to complete the military look. This $329 motherboard comes with a five-year warranty, digital power management system, rugged chokes, solid capacitors, and MOSFETs that have been certified through third party, military-grade testing.
Courtesy of ASUS
The Sabertooth X79 also comes with a host of other features to improve SSD caching and give users quad GPU support for CrossfireX and SLI graphics card configurations. This board also includes a unique UEFI BIOS and natively supports 2TB hard drives with 64-bit operating systems. The USB BIOS "Flashback" feature also helps new users update their motherboard BIOS without entering the BIOS. ASUS states that users can use any USB storage device with the latest BIOS, push the BIOS button located on the back I/O panel for three seconds, and the board will automatically update the BIOS using standby power. Very cool!
Courtesy of ASUS
The back I/O panel on the Sabertooth X79 is no slouch either as it gives users a healthy amount of USB 2.0, USB 3.0, and eSATA 6GB/s ports for greater performance and expandability options. They also added a small fan over the back I/O panel as part of their "TUF Thermal Armor" feature that will help cool and exhaust heat from ther motherboard out the back of the chassis. Let's move on to the rest of the Saberbooth X79's features where we will get our first out-of-the-box look at this motherboard.
Continue reading our review of the ASUS Sabertooth X79 LGA2011 Motherboard!!
ASRock Reveals New Technology Advances at COMPUTEX 2012
Subject: Motherboards, Shows and Expos | June 5, 2012 - 01:06 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Z77, x79, trinity, sandy bridge-e, PLX PEX 8747, Ivy Bridge, Intel, fm2, asrock, amd
Four new Intel motherboards from ASRock were revealed at Computex, the X79 Extreme11, Z77 Extreme9 and Z77 OC Formula. All use their new XFast 555 Technology software for XFast RAM, XFast LAN and XFast USB which should at the very least allow you great control over all the frequencies on your motherboard.
The motherboard for power users supports Sandy Bridge E processors, the X79 Extreme11 sports PLX PEX 8747 bridges which means this motherboard can run multi-GPU 4-Way SLI/CrossFireX at PCIe Gen3 x16/x16/x16/x16 and puts EVGA's Classified SR-2 in serious trouble on the Leaderboard when released. 24 + 2 Power Phase Design, onboard Creative Sound Core3D and an LSI SAS2308 chip which gives you ten SATA3 connectors with 8 of the able to be set to SAS mode.
The Z77 Extreme9 also sports the PLX PEX 8747 bridge which allows a surprising full PCIe Gen3 x8/x8/x8/x8 quad GPU mode. The included T2R Dual Band WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n + BT v4.0 Module supports dual band WiFi and BlueTooth and combines with the Wi-SB BOX to provide better signal and an extra pair of USB 3.0 connectors.
The Z77 OC Formula wants to step on ASUS' toes; while the score is impressive, the overclocks need a little work. They don't say much about this board but from the preliminary testing it looks like great fun for the serious overclocker.
Last but not least is the Z77 Extreme6/TB4 which features four channel Thunderbolt, for that you can read two Thunderbolt ports. ASRock mentions that this "allows one port to be connected to the onboard graphics and the other one can be used for discrete graphics card." which could lead to all sorts of speculation.
On the AMD side we have the ATX FM2A75 Pro4, and microATX FM2A75 Pro4-M and FM2A75M-DG which support Trinity processors but unfortunately we don't have much more than their names. TechPowerUp did get some pictures of the boards recently.
They are also showing the EN2C602-4L, E3C204-V, E3C204-4L and H77WS-DL server boards which come with a full suite of software to ensure an easy setup, an IPC motherboard for those small purpose-built applications and an intriguing HTPC box called the ASRock VisionX Series. This is reputed to featuring Ivy Bridge, Radeon HD 7850M graphics and AMD HD3D Technology with dual band WiFi but might cost a bit more than the alternative, the ASRock MINI Series which has and AMD E2-1800 backed up by a Radeon HD7340.
Inside and Out
When you are a little fish in the great big pond of PC builders, you need to do something to stand out from the rest. The people behind DV Nation apparently were well aware of that when entering the system vendor business and offering up SSDs to every single system configuration. Through a new system they are offering, provocatively named the "RAMRod PC", DV Nation provides a pre-built system that has some very unique components and configuration settings.
Built around the Antec Three Hundred Two chassis, the first glance at the RAMRod doesn't really indicate anything special is going on under the hood. But let's take a quick look at the specs:
- Intel Core i7-3820 @ 4.4 GHz
- 64GB DDR3-1600 Memory from G.Skill
- Radeon HD 6990 4GB
- 2x Seagate Momentus XT 750GB Hybrid HDD in RAID-0
- OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480GB PCIE SSD
- RAMCache: SuperSpeed Supercache 8GB on PCIE SSD, 8GB on Momentus
- RAMDisk: 42GB ROMEX Primo rated at 8000 MB/s
- Cost: $5,400
Obviously there is a LOT of storage work going on in the RAMRod and the purpose of the rig is to be the fastest pre-configured storage available anywhere. If you are looking for a cheaper version of this system you can get a base model with 16GB of memory, 10GB RAMDisk, 2GB RAMCache, 240GB PCIe SSD, single standard hard drive and even at GTX 680 for $2999.
Let's take a quick walk around the rest of the system before diving into the benchmarks!
Just Delivered: DV Nation RAMRod PC - Sandy Bridge-E, 64GB DDR3, 480GB RevoDrive 3 X2
Subject: Systems, Storage | May 11, 2012 - 04:34 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: x79, sandy bridge-e, RevoDrive 3 X2, ramrod, just delivered, dv nation
Just Delivered is a section of PC Perspective where we share some of the goodies that pass through our labs that may or may not see a review, but are pretty cool none the less.
When you are a little fish in the great big pond of PC builders, you need to do something to stand out from the rest. The people behind DV Nation apparently were well aware of that when entering the system vendor business and offering up SSDs to every single system configuration. Through a new system they are offering, provocatively named the "RAMRod PC", DV Nation provides a pre-built system that has some very unique components and configuration settings.
Built around the Antec Three Hundred Two chassis, the first glance at the RAMRod doesn't really indicate anything special is going on under the hood. But let's take a quick look at the specs:
- Intel Core i7-3820 @ 4.4 GHz
- 64GB DDR3-1600 Memory from G.Skill
- Radeon HD 6990 4GB
- 2x Seagate Momentus XT 750GB Hybrid HDD in RAID-0
- OCZ RevoDrive 3 X2 480GB PCIE SSD
- RAMCache: SuperSpeed Supercache 8GB on PCIE SSD, 8GB on Momentus
- RAMDisk: 42GB ROMEX Primo rated at 8000 MB/s
- Cost: $5,400
Obviously there is a LOT of storage work going on in the RAMRod and the purpose of the rig is to be the fastest pre-configured storage available anywhere. If you are looking for a cheaper version of this system you can get a base model with 16GB of memory, 10GB RAMDisk, 2GB RAMCache, 240GB PCIe SSD, single standard hard drive and even at GTX 680 for $2999.
Let's take a quick walk around the rest of the system.
Continue reading our preview of the DV Nation RAMRod PC!!
For those who prefer their boards with a bit of experience, MSI's Big Bang XPower II X79
Subject: Motherboards | April 10, 2012 - 12:38 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: msi, Big Bang XPower II, x79, lga2011
If you are looking for Z77 previews then the long list below should keep you occupied, but since Ivy Bridge processors are not yet available these tests with Sandy Bridge processors are more of a performance preview even if almost every model of Z77 board can already be had. If you are more interested in [H]ard numbers then why not check out [H]'s review of the MSI Big Bang XPower II, a fully evolved X79 motherboard. This chipset has matured and expanded its capabilities, a Core i-7 3960K was perfectly stable at 4.7GHz after a bit of work. The board came off of the review with flying colours even if the BIOS was renamed to the MSI DoubleClick BIOS thanks to some issues with the UEFI's interface.
"MSI pulls out all the stops to create the Big Bang XPower II. A true enthusiast class motherboard designed for over the top enthusiast rigs. The XPower II is able to satisfy the overclocker and fits the needs of the multi-GPU user looking for a bigger bang. And yes, you even get fake bullets and guns on your heatsinks."
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
- Z77 motherboards from Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI @ The Tech Report
- Asus Maximus V Gene (Z77) Motherboard Sandy Bridge Review @ eTeknix
- Intel DZ77GA-70K Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- Intel Z77 Chipset motherboard Review @ OCC
- ECS Z77H2-AX Golden @ Guru of 3D
- MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA1155 Motherboard @ Benchmark Reviews
- MSI Z77-GD65 @ Bjorn3D
- Biostar TZ77XE4 Intel LGA1155 Preview @ techPowerUp
- ECS Golden Board Z77H2-AX LGA 1155 Preview @ techPowerUp
- ECS, Gigabyte & Intel Z77 Motherboard Preview @ Neoseeker
- Intel 7 Series Chipset and DZ77GA-70K @ Guru of 3D
- Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H Motherboard Sandy Bridge Review @ eTeknix
- GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H WiFi & GA-Z77X-UD3H Motherboard Reviews @ Legit Reviews
- ASRock Z77-Professional @ Funky Kit
- ASUS P8-Z77V Pro @ OC3D
- Z77 Motherboard Video Reviews @ Hi Tech Legion
- Intel Z77 Series Chipset Launch Roundup @ HardwareHeaven
- Asus Sabertooth Z77 @ Kitguru
- Biostar TZ77XE4 Z77 Motherboard Preview @ eTeknix
- ECS Z77H2-AX Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- Lucid Virtu MVP (HyperFormance) Tested with ASRock Z77 and Intel Ivy Bridge @ Tweaktown
- Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- Asus Sabertooth P67 Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane
- ASRock Fatal1ty x79 Professional Intel 2011 Motherboard @ TechwareLabs
- Asus Z9PE-D8 WS Dual Socket Workstation Motherboard Review @ eTeknix
- ASRock X79 Extreme4 Motherboard Review Take Two @ [H]ard|OCP
- Asus X79 Sabertooth Motherboard @ Bjorn3D
- ASUS Rampage IV Formula Motherboard @ Bjorn3D
- BIOS Option Of The Week - Delay DRAM Read Latch @ TechARP
- 990FX Motherboard Roundup with Thuban and Bulldozer – A Second Wind for ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI and Biostar @ AnandTech
- Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 Review @ HCW
Introduction and Features
Courtesy of Gigabyte
We are still making our way through an avalanche of X79 motherboards on our test bench that leverages the power of Sandy Bridge-E CPUs, but we didn't want to wait any longer on powering up Gigabyte's GA-X79-UD5 extended ATX motherboard. Gigabyte has really stepped up their game by offering optimized LGA 2011 for no-nonsense PC builders, hardware enthusiasts, serious overclockers, and even FPS/RPG PC gamers. Our review of the X79-UD5 is going to evaluate every aspect of the board's ability to handle automatic and manual overclocking, DX10/DX11 gaming, and other synthetic and real-world benchmarks.
Courtesy of Gigabyte
The Gigabyte X79-UD5 motherboard takes full advantage of the new features available with the LGA 2011 platform and X79 Express chipset like the abiliy to use up to 64GBs of quad-channel memory via eight DIMMs and support for dual and triple AMD CrossfireX or NVIDIA SLI graphics card configurations for multi-monitor, high-definition gaming. These features should make ultra enthusiasts grin from ear to ear because they will probably be the ones who tandem this board with an Intel Core i7-3960X processor and dual NVIDIA GTX 680s graphics cards that were just released earlier this week. The $299 price tag on this board also places it right in the middle of the pack of LGA 2011 motherboards available on Newegg and other vendors.
Continue reading our review of the Gigabyte GA-X79-UD5 motherboard!
Fatal1ty's Asrock X79 Professional Motherboard
Subject: Motherboards | March 26, 2012 - 03:57 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: fatal1ty, Asrock X79 Professional, lga 2011, x79
As the ASRock X79 Professional carries the Fatal1ty logo, you can be sure that it is designed for gamers. That shows in the 4 PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots which can handle 16x, 8x, 16x or x16, x8, x8, x8 depending on if you want a three or four card setup. Six SATA 6Gbps ports will ensure your SSDs have enough bandwidth to keep them happy, with another four SATA2 ports if you decide to go whole hog on storage. Funky Kit's overclocking experiments were very impressive with this board especially since they kept the voltage to a relatively safe 1.45V. If you are going with an X79 based system, this $280 board is worth a look.
"If you are looking for a great overclocking board but do not want to spend a ton of money, this is your board. The X79 Professional easily exceeded my expectations for a board at this price. It easily gives boards that cost twice as much some real tough competition."
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
- ASUS P9X79WS Motherboard @ Bjorn3D
- Gigabyte GA-X79-UD5 @ PCStats
- GIGABYTE X79-UD5 Motherboard @ Bjorn3D
- Asrock X79 Extreme9 Socket 2011 Motherboard @ Pro-Clockers
- igabyte X79-UD3 Motherboard Review @ OCIA
- Ivy Bridge preview with GIGABYTE Z77X-UD5H (Intel Z77) and Core i7 3770K @ Tweaktown
- ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- Ivy Bridge preview with GIGABYTE Z77X-UD5H (Intel Z77) and Core i5 3750K @ Tweaktown
- ASRock Z77 Extreme6 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- Gigabyte GA-A55M-S2V @ AnandTech
- BIOS Option Of The Week - Odd Divisor Correct @ TechARP
- Asus Crosshair V Formula Review @ HCW
An Assassin, just like his father, Gigabyte's new X79 motherboard
Subject: Motherboards | March 16, 2012 - 01:28 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gigabyte, assassin 2, x79, lga2011
The Gigabyte Assassin 2 carries on with Gigabyte's militaristic theme with a heatsink shaped like a handgun but there are some new features over and above the bright green expansion slots. The board uses the E-ATX form factor and sports not only Bigfoot's KillerNIC onboard but also a WiFi card with two antenna, giving your next LGA2011 build a lot of networking power. LanOC's testing revealed that the storage controller on this board lagged behind some similar models and they had some audio issues as well, though it is possible a BIOS update could change that. They were also disappointed to be limited to 4 DIMMs maximum, as other high end X79 boards sport an extra pair of slots for a truly large memory pool.
"It seems almost like it was yesterday when I took a close look at Gigabytes Assassin, flagship motherboard on the X58 chipset. Here we are less than a year later with a new chipset and socket available. That means it's time once again to take a look at Gigabyte's flagship gaming motherboard, the Assassin 2 X79. With a lower price point, smaller form factor, and all of the features of the original we loved the Assassin 2 should be a great board. Of course we won't know that for sure until we dig in a little farther, so let's jump in!"
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
- ASUS Rampage IV Formula X79 Motherboard @ Benchmark Reviews
- Asus P8Z68-V Pro Gen 3 @ Kitguru
- MSI Big Bang XPower II @ Tweaktown
- ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- ASUS Rampage IV Gene @ Bjorn3D
- MSI Big Bang XPower II Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews
- Asus P9X79 Motherboard Review @ Ninjalane
- Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H Z77 Motherboard Preview @ eTeknix
- GIGABYTE Z77 Motherboards: A Preview @ Bjorn3D
- ASUS Z77 LGA1155 Motherboards Preview @ Hardware Canucks
- ASUS Sabertooth Z77 preview @ Guru of 3D
- A Look at ASUS' Z77 Motherboard Features @ Techgage
- BIOS Option Of The Week - NX Technology @ TechARP
Foxconn's Quantum Force gains in reputation
Subject: Motherboards | February 15, 2012 - 06:31 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: x79, sandy bridge-e, quantumian-1, foxconn
Eagle-eyed readers will recognize this board from the "From the Forums" post that we presented to you last week. It seems that our stalwart Forum member is not the only one to locate Foxconn's uniquely named X79 board, the Quantumian-1 from their Quantum Force lineup. NinjaLane has a quick look at the board here and cover some of the features immediately observable on the motherboard. If you are looking for hard numbers though, Windwithme's Forum post is still the way to go.
"In this preview we will be looking at one of the latest motherboards in the Quantum Force lineup the Quantumian-1 X79. The Quantumian-1n is an enthusiast level motherboard designed for high-end gaming and overclocking using the full set of features common to Quantum Force motherboards."
Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
- ASRock X79 Extreme9 LGA 2011 @ [H]ard|OCP
- ASRock X79 Extreme9 Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- ASRock Extreme9 Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews
- ASUS Rampage IV Formula BF3 Edition Motherboard Review @ Hi Tech Legion
- ASRock X79 Extreme6/GB Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets
- GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD7 Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews
- Gigabyte X79-UD3 @ Funky Kit
- Biostar TPower X79 @ Bjorn3D
- Intel DX79SI: Super Energy-Efficient LGA 2011 Mainboard @ X-bit Labs
- MSI Z68A-GD65G3 Motherboard @ Rbmods
- ASUS P8P67 Pro Intel P67 @ PCSTATS
- Sandy Bridge-E Memory Performance Guide @ Legion Hardware
- ASUS Maximux IV Extreme Motherboard Review @ OCIA
- BIOS Option Of The Week - PCI/VGA Palette Snoop @ TechARP


text:
The episode of UNITE airs late Wednesday night at 1 a.m. ET / midnight CT on ESPNU.
Smith will test his wits against students from Auburn and Georgia in a reprised version of the popular trivia show "Stump the Schwab" featuring ESPN statistician Howie Schwab.
Tune in to see how Ryan fares and to cheer on this Rebel against the Tigers and Bulldogs!
Hotty Toddy!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Jay D. Keasling
OrganizationUniversity of California - Berkeley
Organization / Position Type(not set)
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Hispanic Heritage(not set)
Dr. Jay Keasling is truly a pioneer in the field of synthetic biology - engineering microorganisms that contain many genes designed to work together. Keasling's work in synthetic biology includes engineering of microbes to produce treatments for malaria, AIDS, and cancer as well as plastics and new fuel resources.
Discover magazine recently named Keasling 2006 Scientist of the Year, selecting his breakthroughs over the work of others that, for instance, redefined the term "planet," showed how early life moved onto land, and bolstered the case for global warming.
As director of the Berkeley Center for Synthetic Biology, Dr. Keasling's research seeks to expand the biotechnology process from expressing single proteins within cells to recreating complex chemical processes within engineered organisms. "That's how we treat the cell in my lab: It's a chemical reactor. It takes in something very simple and spits out something complicated and valuable," he told Discover.
Keasling's laboratory has integrated genes from different species into bacteria that clean up toxic wastes, such as heavy metals and organophosphate pesticides. Early in 2006, Keasling engineered a yeast containing bacterial and wormwood genes into a chemical factory to produce a precursor to artemisinin, the most effective and expensive anti-malarial drug. Since artemisinin is a hydrocarbon, this work has led him into study of the production of biofuels.
Jay Keasling received his B.S. in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Nebraska in 1986 and his Ph. D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1991. He did post-doctoral work in Biochemistry at Stanford University from 1991-1992. Keasling joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley as an assistant professor in 1992, where he remains a renowned professor.


text: > > I've still got the code around if anybody wants it -- it might be up on > the Monkey website as well -- the article is there I'm pretty sure but > Doug was going to work out a way of posting the supporting scriptware > and I don't know if he ever did that. Doug? Indeed, it is there. Article: http://www.clustermonkey.net//content/view/13/32/ Code: http://www.clustermonkey.net/download/Getting_Started_With_Clusters/your-first-cluster-code.tgz Another service brought to you by those fine primates at ClusterMonkey.net -- Doug


text:
On Veterans Day, I always think of my father, a military man whose remains lie at Arlington National Cemetery, surrounded by the pristine white markers of America's war dead. I always come away from my parents' burial place freshly attuned to the special gravity we sense in all war veterans. They are initiates into the deep mystery of mortality. On Veterans Day, the nation acknowledges their service. But discharging the nation's debt to them requires more than than a simple salute. Americans must try to understand what our brave and selfless military men and women have actually been asked to do.
Today's observance has its origins in the World War I armistice, and takes its resonance from traditions set by the World War II generation, of which my dad was part. But by now there are more than 2 million veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of them still young. For all of the tribulations of the legions of warriors who went before them, veterans of these contemporary wars have been plunged into complexities of risk and moral anarchy of which my father's generation knew little.
In the world wars that still define how we memorialize soldiers and justify armed combat, there was a clear distinction between operations at the "front," the death zone of combat, and less threatening activities of the "rear," the realm of preparation and support. But what marks the front off from the rear in Iraq or Afghanistan, where the majority of casualties are inflicted by anonymously planted improvised explosive devices and by suicide assaults — each striking anywhere, anytime? Veterans of these wars have confronted mortality not in episodes, but in a generalized condition, with threats coming as much from mundane tasks as combat missions, and less from an identified enemy than from everyone.
But moral risk matches physical danger in these places. In a military ethic going back at least 2,000 years, the boundary separating noncombatant civilian from enemy fighter is essential to a just war. In World War II, which killed millions of civilians, the distinction was acutely observed, if mainly in awareness of its violation. Yet in asymmetrical wars like Iraq and Afghanistan, where the enemy itself is as elusive and undefined as the front and the rear, the crucial moral demarcation on which a trooper's sense of right and wrong depends can be impossible to discern.
But what if the moral question facing today's fighters is directed not primarily at events within the war, but at the war itself? Honoring the service of men and women who risked everything in Iraq or Afghanistan is complicated when more and more Americans see the wars themselves as a mistake. As the misbegotten character of the Vietnam War was faced by its generation, many veterans were made to feel blamed — a grotesque compounding of Vietnam's horror. No one will tolerate a like scapegoating of veterans today. But the dilemma remains: How to commend individuals who, acting only nobly, were ordered into an unnecessary war, which is by definition ignoble?
There is disgrace in what the United States has done in southwest Asia since 2001. The deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans remain the so far uncalculated measure of what America inflicted. Having so misused the patriotism of its own military members fighting abroad, are we now misusing their proper status as honored veterans at home to avoid reckoning with a national dishonor? When politicians celebrate the individual virtues of veterans by praising the American military as the best fighting force in the world, are they deflecting the harsh truth that both in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon behemoth has been fought to a draw by primitive forces? If the most bloated military budget on the planet can be matched by impoverished tribal warlords, why is that budget sacrosanct? Its defenders use the honoring of veterans to shore up the very militarism to which the veterans themselves have been sacrificed.
In the precincts of Arlington where the graves are fresh, this contradiction is palpable, offensive, and deeply sad. Citizens, therefore, have a double obligation to greet veterans by saying, "Thank you for your service." But in fact, our unnecessary wars are defined by the disservice they do to veterans. Political exploitation of their heroism keeps in place the pillars of the next mistake. And it too will have heroes.James Carroll's column appears regularly in the Globe.