Tag Archives: Michael Yon

Walking the line, part 3

Posted on January 21, 2007 | Comments Off on Walking the line, part 3

This time, in Al Anbar province, hotbed of Sunni resistence, with Army veteran and freelance journalist Michael Yon and his photos:

"…the first thing that Marine Sergeant Major O’Connell said about the Minnesota National Guard was something to the effect that this was the best bunch he’d ever seen. I had to clear my ears and ask him to repeat that. I seemed to have had an auditory hallucination, because high praise coming from a Marine Sergeant Major in Anbar province, who knows what competent troops are, just didn’t seem right when it was heaped on the Army."

Rest is here. 

Comments Off on Walking the line, part 3

Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops

Tagged , ,

Walking the line, part 2

Posted on January 17, 2007 | Comments Off on Walking the line, part 2

Second part of Army veteran and Iraq freelance embed Michael Yon’s latest dispatch:

"People at home probably have no idea how much their little cards, letters, and goodie bags boost morale. Countless walls around Iraq are practically wallpapered with cards and letters. And soldiers and Marines do stop to read them. They especially love the cards from kids. There is nothing more uplifting over here than reading two dozen cards from kids who can barely hold a crayon, much less one of those fat pencils. If a kid sends a card, rest assured that card will be stuck on some wall somewhere and it will bring a smile to many a soldier and Marine."

Read it all. You won’t be sorry you took the time. 

Comments Off on Walking the line, part 2

Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops

Tagged ,

Walking the line

Posted on January 7, 2007 | Comments Off on Walking the line

Veteran and freelance embed Michael Yon’s latest, as always, is worth the read:

"With nearly 35 years of continuous military service, Mellinger is the senior most active duty draftee; yet he cruises Iraq like an infantryman. More than 3,000 of our people have been killed in combat here, but if it weren’t for this type of leadership, found in commands throughout Iraq, that number might be 10,000."

Comments Off on Walking the line

Posted in Iraq, The War, Troops

Tagged ,

Bucking up morale at home

Posted on December 28, 2006 | Comments Off on Bucking up morale at home

My unwitting use of a more-than-a-year-old Iraq email, posted at The Corner yesterday without a clue to its antiquity and still not explained as of this writing, reminded me that the best sources for news on what’s going on in Iraq and elsewhere still are the active-duty military bloggers, either on the scene or temporarily at home and waiting to go back.

One of the best in the former category is Badgers Forward which, as Badger 6, the blogger himself says, trys to buck up morale at home. He posts this quote from veteran milblogger Michael Yon, who is newly returned to Iraq as a private journalist, which sums up the problem rather well:

"This war is strange. I never hear soldiers worried about their own morale sagging. Contrary, the war-fighters here are more concerned to bolster the morale of the people at home. The morale at war is higher than I have ever seen it at home; makes me wonder what they know that most Americans seem to be missing."

Probably because the soldiers ignore CNN and the networks and don’t read the-sky-is-falling stuff purveyed by the MSM. So read the milblogs, folks. They’re the best source. When their writers get down, it’s time to worry, but only then.  

Comments Off on Bucking up morale at home

Posted in Afghanistan, Iraq, The War, Troops

Tagged , , ,