"I spent four years in the Marines as a combat correspondent." Topic

"I was a propagandist. Most of the time, the stories I wrote were inconsequential puff pieces. Other times, they were plugs for the current mission, little more than a press release, packed full of "command messages" — the military's version of buzzwords — just with my byline in place of the phrase "official U.S. Marine Corps statement."

While deployed to Afghanistan in 2010, and again in 2011, the words "Afghan-led" wound up in stories I wrote about patrols where few if any Afghan National Army soldiers were present. In the rare cases they were actually there, they weren't leading anybody. Civil Affairs projects where bags of cash were handed over to pay for beautification projects in cities still reeling from recent battles between Marines and the Taliban were billed as dollars well spent. Articles about IED strikes, vehicle rollovers that resulted in deaths, and civilian casualties were rarely published — at least not on a website ending with .gov or .mil…"
Main page
link

Amicalement
Armand

Best quote from the interview within the article: "My experience in Iraq and Afghanistan was that there was no truth. You can maybe report on what happened to you that day, but in terms of being able to really have a good understanding of this incredibly complex, chaotic, and absurd war, it was definitely beyond the grasp of anyone, or any one news story."

That likely applies to being in any battle.

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand