Blogoland

A soldier in Iraq takes umbrage at a reporter in Iraq:

I also take great exception to you talking about the 'Chairborne Rangers advancing the vast "negative media" conspiracy from the safety and comfort of their parents' basements'. Chairborne Rangers is a term used by those in the military, and since you are not there laying your ass on the line fighting it out every day, I don't think you have any business using that term. I know, I know, you're at risk, you're in Iraq, so you are laying your ass on the line, but really, what do you do? You go to a briefing everyday in the Green Zone. You ignore all the good news and report on the negative. You spread the message for the terrorists better than they can. You want to use military terms and be one of the cool kids? Put on 100 pounds of gear and go chase terrorists through the streets and down alleyways. Be the first one through the door chasing a terrorist into a house.

And what of the reporter this soldier is taunting? The one who wants to be "one of the cool kids"? What is his background?

Cesar Soriano is a veteran of the war in Bosnia. He kept an online diary of his deployment. Spc. Soriano was mobilized to Bosnia only two months after he started his job at USA Today.