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Awesome article CJ….love these qoutes:

Today’s military is the most educated military this country has ever had. We are relying on young troops’ input into missions more than ever.

I don’t think it’s possible to tell, but I wish more people understood the feeling of nationalism and patriotism that soldiers have going into combat. There is a sense of pride soldiers possess that just mystifies and awes me. I wish it were possible to help people understand that.

LIFT: What do the media usually get right, and what do they get wrong?

GRISHAM: I believe there are two categories of media: national and local. The national media is the one most troops dislike. They are the ones who seem to focus on stories that make us look bad or don’t provide complete context.
They like to take credit for breaking stories like Abu Ghraib when the reality is that it was a concerned soldier who turned in those sorry excuses for troops. Most people don’t know that, because the national media takes credit for “breaking” the story.

They focus on the deaths of our troops instead of the lives of our troops. They focus on the failed missions or the ones that didn’t go as planned instead of the successful ones.

On the contrary, the local media seems to have a greater proclivity for telling positive stories about our troops, while not ignoring the negative ones. They seem more balanced because the troops come from their hometowns. They are the sons and daughters of these hometowns while the national media is largely detached.