As Close as You Can Get

Read Michael Yon. I can't stress this enough. Brilliant. Fascinating. Stunning. Courageous. Frightening. Inspiring. He's a journalist riding with the military in Mosul, Iraq. This is as close as you can feel to being there as an observer. Now, go. Read. And keep going back, no matter how much it takes.

Excepts from Jungle Law

“I walked back through the dark and did the radio interview by cell phone. During such interviews, I get the impression that people at home are losing faith in the effort, though we are winning.”

though we are winning.
though we are winning.
though we are winning.... (echo's in the darkness.)

“But at home they cannot see it, and when I said goodbye that time, I sat in the dark.”


“Next day, we drove back to the same police station using a different route, and met with the Chief to discuss security for the upcoming elections. Minutes after we left the meeting, a terrorist sniper shot and killed PFC Nils Thompson.

“There was no time to stop and grieve. The missions continued. They had to. Hitting the enemy. More than I can ever write. Too much happens here too fast. Despite the brisk pace, as the distance of days unfurled, conversations went back to that IED. Then, finally, I woke up early one morning, waiting by my cell phone for a scheduled radio interview, when a gigantic explosion rocked the morning darkness. That was more than a five-banger.”

Seems cold, to just glance off a man being killed - our man - our hero- someone's son. But this is war. He is our hero.

“That night, there was an important memorial for Nils Thompson, the soldier who had been killed by a sniper. Soldiers had labored for days, and into the nights, to make a fitting ceremony for young Nils Thompson. Top officers, a General among them, came to the ceremony. Though he'd just turned 19, Thompson already had earned respect from officers and men in the unit. Many quiet tears marked the true pain of the loss. A few soldiers wondered, Do people at home even care?”

I care. “Thank You” cannot convey the gratitude I feel for your sacrifices. May God bless and protect you.