Michael Yon should win a Pulitzer for his reporting from Iraq. If you have any doubts, go read Gates of Fire, his latest dispatch from the front lines.
In this piece, Yon tells the story (with pictures you’ll never see in the NY Times or Washington Post), about two larger-than-life men, the top leaders of the Deuce Four: CSM Robert Prosser and LTC Erik Kurilla.
Seeing the pictures of LTC Kurilla sitting in the middle of that dirt road, with his femur shattered by a bullet (plus a bullet in the other leg, and one more in his arm) as he kept his gun trained on the door from where he was shot…I have to ask, “where do we find such men?”
I don’t know. But thank god they exist.
And my thanks and a salute of respect and extreme admiration to Yon for risking his own life and his status as an imbeded journalist:
“Mike, did you pick up a weapon today?”
“I did.”
“Did you fire that weapon?”
“I did.”
“If you pick up another weapon, you are out of here the next day. Understood?”
“Understand.”Writers are not permitted to fight. I asked SFC Bowman to look at the photos and hear what happened…I did not want the men of Deuce Four who were not there to think I had picked up a weapon without just cause…
Mike, I understand why you picked up that rifle and why you fired those shots. And you probably helped save the life of LTC Kurilla. After reading your story of the battle, you never again have to wonder if you did the right think—you did.
He should, but he won’t — no BushHatred in his stories.
Left by 2 on August 27th, 2005 at 7:45 pm