http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/275997-white-house-confident-in-hagel

There is much to commend Chuck Hagel as the next secretary of defense. His years of service in the Senate; his work on national security issues during that time; the fact that he’s a Republican who would serve in a Democratic administration.

But most of all it is his combat experience that stands out.

President Obama noted that experience specifically Monday while nominating Hagel to lead the Pentagon. Hagel, said Obama, knows what it means to send young Americans into combat where they “bleed in the mud.” Hagel himself bled in the mud, as an Army infantryman during the Vietnam War, where he received two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star.

Hagel would be the first Vietnam veteran to lead the Pentagon and would be the first defense boss with experience as an enlisted man. He knows about war and its cost. He understands the pain it brings to families. Hagel is no “chicken hawk.” These are the individuals who avoided service during time of war … only to be among the first to sound the bugle to charge into combat.

Hagel, who was elected to two Senate terms as a Nebraska Republican, served with his brother in Vietnam. They saved each other’s lives in battle.

Yes, this man has made some unfortunate comments in the past. He’s taken them back, expressing regret, for example, about comments he once made about an openly gay U.S. ambassador. He once referred to the “Jewish lobby” when referencing Israel’s long-standing support in the United States.

But my own view is that a man with his specific type of military experience and the trials he has endured while serving his country in wartime have prepared him uniquely for this critical post.