Bunny In The Foxhole

A tired and disgusted Iowa soldier fired off an e-mail a few days
ago, telling family and friends how things are going in Iraq.

A Blackhawk helicopter pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Jim Funk has
flown more than 80 combat missions since he arrived there in October.

He described his Boone-based unit's successes after 5,000 hours of
flying out of LSA Anaconda, a huge American base north of Baghdad.
He talked about the tragedies he and his fellow Iowans have
witnessed and his worries of becoming complacent as he goes on
mission after mission.

Morale?

"We're treading water," the Ames man told the people closest to
him. "We continue to kick butt on missions and take care of each
other, even though we know the American public and government DOES
NOT stand behind us.

Ohhhh, they all say they support us, but how can you support me (the
soldier) if you don't support my mission or my objectives. We watch
the news over here. Every time we turn it on we see the American
public and Hollywood conducting protests and rallies against
our 'illegal occupation' of Iraq."

His greatest frustration? The performance of the people who deliver
the news to the American people.

I'll let him say it, in his own words, in the letter, which found
its way to me:

"Hello media, do you know you indirectly kill American soldiers
every day? You inspire and report the enemy's objective every day.
You are the enemy's greatest weapon. The enemy cannot beat us on the
battlefield so all he does is try to wreak enough havoc and have you
report it every day. With you and the enemy using each other, you
continually break the will of the American public and American
government.

"We go out daily and bust and kill the enemy, uncover and destroy
huge weapons caches and continue to establish infrastructure. So
daily we put a whoopin on the enemy, but all the enemy has to do is
turn on the TV and get re-inspired. He gets to see his daily
roadside bomb, truck bomb, suicide bomber or mortar attack. He
doesn't see any accomplishments of the U.S. military (FOX, you're
not exempt, you suck also).

"Let's give you an example. A couple of days ago we conducted an air
assault. We lifted troops into an area for an operation. The
operation went well and our ground troops killed (insurgents) and
took several prisoners, freed a few hostages and uncovered a weapons
cache containing munitions and chemicals that were going to be used
in improvised bombs.

"The next morning I woke up and turned on AFN (Armed Forces Network)
and watched the nightly news (NBC). Nothing, none of that reported.
But the daily car bomb report was reported, and the file footage was
not even from the event. There was a car bomb in the Sadr City area
and your news report showed old car bomb footage from another part
of town from some other time.

"So we really set the enemy back that night but all the enemy had to
do was turn on the news and be reassured that the enemy's agenda
(objective) was still going to be fed to the American public.

"We, the soldiers, keep breaking the back of the enemy. You, the
media, keep rejuvenating the enemy.

"How hard would it be to contact the PAO (public affairs officer) of
the 1st CAV, 36th CAB, 25th ID or the Marines and ask what did you
guys accomplish today - good and bad? How about some insurgent
blooper videos? Now that would be something to show on the evening
news.

"Media, we know you hate the George Bush administration, but report
both sides, not just your one-sided agenda. You have got to realize
how you are continually motivating every extremist, jihadist and
terrorist to continue their resolve to kill American soldiers."

It's a punch in the nose to the news media from Funk, 39, a full-
time employee of the Iowa National Guard.

Why did he write it?

"I am just tired of busting my butt over here and coming home every
night and turning on the TV (Armed Forces Network) and hearing how
we are failing miserably," he told me in an e-mail.

You may agree with what Funk has to say. You may not.

Many in my business certainly won't. But Funk is a soldier, fighting
a war, who has earned the right to be heard.

Columnist John Carlson can be reached at (515) 284-8204 or
jcarlson@dmreg.com

***Thank the above columnist for putting this out there and pass it
along!