The Troops & The Press

Staff Sgt. Cory Blackwell, 27, returning to Iraq for his second tour with the 4th Infantry Division, on journalists: "We tried to stay away from them. You had the feeling that whatever you might be doing, they wanted to catch you at something on tape. That would make their career."

When television camera crews showed up, they'd direct them away to the unit next door: "We’d just say, ‘Hey, go down the street there with second squad ... it’s gonna be awesome.’"

Most reporters are considered hostile,
but every once in a great while, the troops find a fair one and adopt him as "their reporter."