SSG Terry's Bronze Star for Fallujah

Peter,
I felt like I was bulletproof the entire time in Iraq. But that's neither here nor there. I was checking out your website and enjoyed your post about the media. Funny thing about the media and soldiers. Try to interview any one of my soldiers and they will shake their heads and slink away. None of us like talking to the media. I always wonder who's side the media is on. When I read stories about how the carbomb is the enemy's weapon of choice and it's their version of a "smart bomb" etc etc, it freaks me out. Yeah ok, maybe these are no secrets but for the love of God, stop glorifying the enemy tactics so much. It just encourages them more. The media has few vessels for conveying the news - FEAR and CONTROVERSY are just two. What cheap and lousy tactics. The other reason we hate talking to the media is because we feel like douchebags when we do. My guys are real soldiers, and real soldiers hate the spotlight. It's usually POGs talking to the media. (Unless your chain of command makes you talk to them because it's good for PA).

Here's the difference between a POG and a trigger puller. I remember being in the DFAC at Camp Fallujah and overheard this one guy talking about how pumped he was about killing Iraqis and their babies. I thought he was a hardcore killing psychopath until I asked him. He was a commo guy responsible for keeping the internet site up on the camp. Real trigger pullers don't talk like that. At least not publicly.

Sometimes I feel like such a sell-out for talking about what we do even on this website. But then I see the crap that's out there: the shitty books about Iraq that people are putting out from their desk perspectives in the TOCs and CPs, or all of the negativity in some books and blogs because apparently some soldiers thought Iraq was going to be air conditioned heaven. Give me a break. This is the Army. Not Club Med. It's a war machine, not a Fortune 500 "Best Company to Work For." This is what drives me to tell the story of privates and sergeants who are just doing their duty. And sometimes happening to love it. For those of you who think you've got it rough in Iraq. Remember, some one else has always got it worse.