Soldier Turned Journalist Finds Contempt for Military Among Classmates, Teachers -- News Busters
In May 2007, Matt Mabe was a junior Army officer who had done two tours of duty in Iraq and was leaving the service for good to pursue a career in journalism -- or so he thought.
In "One of Us," which appears in the new issue of the Columbia Journalism Review, Mabe reveals that of his journalism school colleagues, "most, it seemed, had never met a veteran," although that didn't stop them and their teachers and lecturers from hostile stereotyping of military members as troubled, poor, scheming, and stupid.
I was twenty-seven and had spent my entire adult life in uniform. The thought of abandoning my unit in a time of war made me feel cowardly. But having already served two grueling tours in Iraq, I convinced myself that I'd done enough.
Read more ....
My Comment: One of the reasons why we started this blog was to compile a history of main stream media reporting on the war in Iraq, and compare it to what military bloggers were saying in the same war theater.
We found that there was/is a great disconnect.
With President Obama in the office, the main stream media has toned down much of their criticism of the military and of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But I personally believe that this will change in a short period of time. The culture within the major networks and print media are "instinctively" hostile to the culture of the military, and as the body bags continue to come back from Afghhanistan .... criticism and the media's contempt of the military will start to show again.