Yon on Iraq, and a pointless mini-rant

If you haven't read him yet, I highly recommend checking out Michael Yon's brilliant battlefield reporting from Iraq. His dispatches on the Battle of Mosul are priceless. This week he's reposting earlier dispatches as a prelude to his latest entry. Read part one of the Battle of Mosul here.

His time spent on the ground has given him a perspective that is simply lacking in the MSM. He has a much keener grasp of the successes and problems on the ground than you'll ever get from a reporter holed up in the Al-Rashid hotel in Baghdad. His extensive military background makes it easier for soldiers to confide in him, and at the same time it allows Yon to understand and accurately describe what he sees. Jason at Iraq Now/Countercolumn has written extensively about the importance of having veterans in the newsroom, if for no other reason than to correct glaring, obvious errors ("...after the F-15s took off from the carrier, they linked up with a B-52 to take on fuel then progressed to their target..."). Surely his argument can be extended to include 'embedded' reporters like Michael Yon. To an outsider, the military can seem alternately confusing (acronyms, anyone?), simplistic (because many military men and women don't wring their hands about issues like whether America is a force for good in the world, etc.), and exclusive (which is a product of many things--camaraderie, training and discipline, a healthy disdain for academics who think attending 6 hours of classes constitutes a "hard day"...).

Where was I? Oh right...read Michael Yon. And toss some coins in his tip jar.