"Combat Diary" is just that: raw, highly personal close-ups of the marines' moments of pride, camaraderie and, also, mounting frustration fighting an invisible enemy.
It is not just the futility of eight years of fighting in Iraq, frustration in Afghanistan, the loss of thousands of soldiers' lives and the maiming of tens of thousands more that are causing so much doubt over a US attack on Syria now.
"I'm fighting feelings of frustration with the organization of this meet and so much more.
He wrote: "To the parents who are fighting through the frustrations that must come with raising a child with severe autism, finding strength and patience that they never knew they had; to the college student with Asperger's syndrome; to all those overcoming autism.
"To the parents who are fighting through the frustrations that must come with raising a child with severe autism, finding strength and patience that they never knew they had; to the college student with Asperger's syndrome; to all those overcoming autism," Mr. Cole wrote.
Military legal experts said the soldiers' rank showed the frustration of fighting insurgents who blended in with the locals.
If, when they come to you with a technical question, your colleague seems to be stressed out and under pressure already, then the last thing they need is the extra frustration of fighting with a jammed copier or empty printer.
The frustration of fighting government red tape at the restaurant, along with her struggle to arrange schooling for her physically disabled son, now 17, propelled her into politics, she said.
Powell and Armitage experienced firsthand "the intense frustration of fighting a war America hadn't won, the agony of having watched Americans be killed," and have thus hesitated to use force without a guarantee of victory.
