In The Air
Teflon Don’s bound for Kuwait as of this writing. I was on the phone with Gordon of Acute Politics fame earlier this evening. He was at Dulles waiting for his plane. The combat engineer, who rotated back with his Guard unit just a few months ago, is headed back as a freelance embed. This is good news. In his time, Gordon was the best American combat writer on the ground in Iraq. I hope he’s as lucky as he is good. How good? This good:
I learned some things the last time I was in Iraq — I learned of courage, and brotherhood. I learned that there is no glory in war — there are few heroes, and many decent, ordinary men too stubborn to realize that their actions are irrational, dangerous, and, well… heroic. I learned of emotional agony and of empathy; I also learned how to be callous. I learned how to tell someone with your eyes that you would kill him if he didn’t cave. I lost some timidity, and gained self-respect. The war did not make me a man- rather; I learned through the war some essential elements of manhood.
There must be a name for this sickness, for this consuming malady that compels some few of us back into the conflict, back into the desert. It feels like a mild form of addiction — there’s the drive to get more of it, and the rush, and the memories.
What’s he talking about, mild? Read on here. He’s actually a lot better than that. Gordon’s gift is thoughtful, evocative, impressionistic writing … seemingly effortlessly profound and poetic at times, mundane and light at others until he suddenly drops a haunting image or phrase like a grenade in your lap. He puts you there, inside his skin. Now he’s going to try reportage as well, scribbling and some shooting of the other variety, linking up with a MITT team and also some grunts in contested territory south of Baghdad for starters. There are some tricks to it, the reporting, a lot of experience helps, but it isn’t brain surgery, rocket science or defusing IEDs or anything complicated like that, though it can also get messy, fire off in the wrong direction or blow up on you if you aren’t careful. Even if you are.
Here’s a quick Acute Politics reader:
The Road to Hell (Devil’s Windchime)
Little Saddam (guest-blogged at this site).
Leaving, Dead Eyes and The Anti-Iraq
Back home, Intrusions.
A few examples of what you might expect by way of reporting. Here’s Gordon on A True Martyr; an ISF Primer; and Militias. A little technical media criticism in Left of Boom.
For more great GI writing, don’t forget A Day in Iraq (scroll down to “A Brief Uncertainty,” but take some time to wander around) and Badger Six, Gordon’s old company commander, who didn’t want to leave if what he knew would keep some Joes alive and help end this thing.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:20 pm on Monday, February 4, 2008
2 Responses to “In The Air”
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February 5th, 2008 at 7:00 am
Good news indeed. He’s a naturally talented writer and it will be great to have another trustworthy reporter in Iraq.
February 5th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Acute Politics Is going back to Iraq
The Teflon Don of Acute Politics is heading back to Iraq, not for another tour as a combat engineer finding IEDs and bad guys, but as an independent blogger/photojournalist. Jimbo, Mr. Wolf and I had the pleasure of throwing back