B5 Has A Post on The Commander of the Mad Ghosts, Lieutenant Colonel Mark Smith
When will be there too many of these for the MSM to ignore? I hear all the time that they are 'supporting the troops', what does this mean to them? To cover the losers in the military, ala Graner? To write over and over again about hardening humvees? To write on the risks faced every day?
I would say the media would be remiss in never covering the above. For the same reasons, they have been critically remiss in not covering the good that our military are doing, for both home and international consumption. The men and women of our armed forces are the best foreign service we have for doing good. Just compare them to the UN any day, as Diplomad has so competently done.
But, the point is that one of the questions she asked me struck me as odd. She asked me, and I am paraphrasing, "how do you decide what to write about in your updates."
Now, this struck me as odd, and although I did not give her this particular answer, it struck me as odd because my challenge each week is not to "decide what TO write about," my challenge every week is to "decide what NOT TO write about." Simply put, every minute of every hour of every day of every week spent in the company of the Mad Ghosts IS something to write home about. You see, the challenge is that these magnificent Marines accomplish so much in the course of a day, an entire book could be written about just that day, and it would be the size of War and Peace, no pun intended. I struggle so hard with what details not to talk about, but I also know that the biggest challenge I could ever undertake is to attempt to actually give you a feel for this place, these Marines and what they accomplish: Day In, Day Out.
...
Yeah, I could talk about all of that, but all I would be doing is adding to the layers of such stories that you are innundated with everyday from the national media.
OH YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, THEY RARELY TALK ABOUT THOSE KIND OF EXPLOITS!
No, they would rather tell you about every single IED or SVBIED that detonates.
They would rather tell you that Iraq is overrun with insurgents.
They would rather tell you that all is lost and hopeless and the only victory is in how soon we can get out of Iraq.
Well, I refuse to "tow that line." I refuse to tow that line because it is misrepresentation at best, and these American HEROES deserve better.
The other part of the media misrepresentation that really agitates me, now that you have spun me up, is the incessant undertone that the military senior leadership is either wrong or incompetent. This one agitates me like a Whirlpool 9000 agitates laundry. (I don't really know if there is a Whirlpool 9000, but if there was it would agitate laundry really hard!)
I would say the media would be remiss in never covering the above. For the same reasons, they have been critically remiss in not covering the good that our military are doing, for both home and international consumption. The men and women of our armed forces are the best foreign service we have for doing good. Just compare them to the UN any day, as Diplomad has so competently done.
But, the point is that one of the questions she asked me struck me as odd. She asked me, and I am paraphrasing, "how do you decide what to write about in your updates."
Now, this struck me as odd, and although I did not give her this particular answer, it struck me as odd because my challenge each week is not to "decide what TO write about," my challenge every week is to "decide what NOT TO write about." Simply put, every minute of every hour of every day of every week spent in the company of the Mad Ghosts IS something to write home about. You see, the challenge is that these magnificent Marines accomplish so much in the course of a day, an entire book could be written about just that day, and it would be the size of War and Peace, no pun intended. I struggle so hard with what details not to talk about, but I also know that the biggest challenge I could ever undertake is to attempt to actually give you a feel for this place, these Marines and what they accomplish: Day In, Day Out.
...
Yeah, I could talk about all of that, but all I would be doing is adding to the layers of such stories that you are innundated with everyday from the national media.
OH YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT, THEY RARELY TALK ABOUT THOSE KIND OF EXPLOITS!
No, they would rather tell you about every single IED or SVBIED that detonates.
They would rather tell you that Iraq is overrun with insurgents.
They would rather tell you that all is lost and hopeless and the only victory is in how soon we can get out of Iraq.
Well, I refuse to "tow that line." I refuse to tow that line because it is misrepresentation at best, and these American HEROES deserve better.
The other part of the media misrepresentation that really agitates me, now that you have spun me up, is the incessant undertone that the military senior leadership is either wrong or incompetent. This one agitates me like a Whirlpool 9000 agitates laundry. (I don't really know if there is a Whirlpool 9000, but if there was it would agitate laundry really hard!)
posted by Am I Conservative or Lil' Libertarian? | 12:53 PM
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