Michael Yon is an independent war reporter. He has embedded with British and American troops over the past five years or more and covered the day-to-day life and, sad to say, deaths of the soldiers he lives with in a way no other reporter that I know of does. This is the sort of high-quality, in-depth reporting that we should be paying for when we purchase a newspaper or are forced to turn over our TV Licence fee. But Michael Yon survives on the donations of his web site's readers. I can't think of a more stinging indictment of the current media setup than that, but that is beside the point of this post.
Most recently, Michael has been embedded with the British regiment 2 Rifles in Helmand, Afghanistan. His most recent dispatch is a wonderful example of what he does, and echoes the authentic voice of the soldiery:
While Axle worked, I asked about times when he “smashed” the Taliban.
British soldiers like to use the word “smashed” when talking about the
Taliban. When Axle would finish talking about one fight, I would ask
about another. Finally, Axle said, “You Yanks are great. You like to
hear stories about us smashin’ the Taliban but people at home want to
know how much we miss our families.” We both chuckled, and I asked,
“Really? They don’t ask you about smashing the Taliban?” “That’s
right,” then Axle said something like, “They only want to hear how sad
we are.” Axle and I got along great because I didn’t care if he missed
his family and he didn’t care if I missed mine. This part is about
smashing people who would help those who smashed the World Trade
Centers and blew up people in London and Bali and Jakarta and Israel
and Spain and the Philippines and anywhere else they can reach. There
is a crucial development and governance aspect to this war, and still a
crucial smashing side. Sometimes you’ve got to swap hats for helmets.
Mullah Omar is still alive, apparently in Pakistan, and he needs to be
killed. Just on 20 August I heard a Taliban singing over a walkie
talkie that Mullah Omar “Is our leader,” and they were
celebrating shooting down a British helicopter only twelve hours before
just some miles from here. There will be time to hug families later.
Now is a time for fighting.
Apallingly, after reading this latest dispatch, the MOD cancelled Michael's embed. If you appreciated Michael's reports from our troops, you might want to donate to Michael's cause and perhaps write to your MP, asking them to ask the MOD exactly why they canceled the embed when no possible advantage could have accrued to the enemy from it.
UPDATE: Of course, EU Referendum has more.
