Move Over, Ernie Pyle

My parents' generation had Ernie Pyle to bring the human side of the the War to them in the tyepset pages of a magazine. We both watched the Dan Rather-types reporting on Vietnam, facing the TV camera with the war behind them. Now, my generation of blog junkies gets the story from a man behind the camera.

Michael Yon is a combat correspondent and author in Iraq who makes the FOBbits from the network news look like pampered studio talking heads. In his latest dispatch, he's followed Army Lt. Col. Kurilla (left) to what might be the Colonel's last gunfight (for a while). Kurilla is already a hero in my book, but Yon's coverage of the heroes of Duece Four paints a colorful picture of the valor and competence of these men, warts and all. In this dispatch, Kurilla is sherpherding two newbies to combat through the battlefield when he's engaged by terrorist ragtards in a shop. The newbies froze, so Yon grabbed a weapon (a no-no) to help the man he's been shadowing for so long; fortunately, the Command Sergeant Major showed up and mopped up the tango. Go read! Check out his great pictures, a small sample I've included here. Most of all, hit his PayPal link to support this awesome reporting.

I hope Michael survives this war, because this needs to be made into a movie and he needs to write the screenplay...maybe even star in it.