Oliver North's "Persons of the Year"....

My "Persons of the Year" are men and women who voluntarily took an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies." Though fewer than 3 percent of their countrymen know a single one of their names, they continue to make extraordinary sacrifices while wittingly and willingly going into harm's way on our behalf. They are, on average, just 20 years old, yet they are brighter and better educated than their peers in the same age bracket. All of them have been entrusted with the awesome responsibility for the lives and safety of others, and all of them are held accountable for what they do or fail to do in carrying out that responsibility. During the past six years, my "Persons of the Year" have spent an average of 31 months far from friends and family and the comforts of home. Tens of thousands of them have been wounded, and more than 4,000 have been killed defending our nation from radical Islamic terror. Many celebrated Christmas this year on lonely patrol bases where even the most basic amenities -- showers, sanitation facilities, drinkable water and hot food -- are considered luxuries. Like Time magazine's Vladimir Putin, my "Persons of the Year" ride around in armored caravans because evildoers want to kill them. But unlike Putin, most of my honorees wear heavy protective vests and helmets and frequently have to use the weapons they carry. Though Putin frequently speaks about making life better for his people at some point in the future, my honorees actually are doing it in two countries. During 2007, my "Persons of the Year" built more than 575 schools in two countries, opened nearly 500 public health clinics and hospitals, provided clean drinkable water for more than 6 million people and electricity to about the same number. While most Americans prepared for Christmas by hunting for gifts imported from China, my honorees were hunting for deadly improvised explosive devices imported from Iran. If you haven't figured it out already, my "Persons of the Year" are the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Marines serving in Iraq and Afghanistan -- the very ones with whom I spent most of the month of December. Unfortunately, Time magazine, like most of the so-called mainstream media, has a long history of ignoring the good being done by young Americans in uniform.