Michael Yon is back In Iraq

Independent embed reporter Yon is back in Iraq, and talks about how it is important to talk more with senior NCOs and troops in the field than the generals. Michael has traveled extensively with CSM Jeffrey Mellinger, the top enlisted man in theater, who has a number of brushes with the enemy.

"Grandparents should know that a grandparent is watching out for the young men and women who are fighting in Iraq. CSM Mellinger has spent three consecutive Christmases in Iraq and is going on his third straight year walking the line. One young sergeant, a team member on CSM Mellinger’s crew, told me the CSM’s team has been hit 26 times so far, and when I asked the CSM, he shrugged and said, “Sounds about right.” Five of his Humvees have been destroyed by IEDs, two that he was riding in at the time. Astonishingly, nobody in his crew has even been seriously wounded. He goes into combat, but you’d have to see how he rolls to understand why nobody has been killed so far. Experience multiplied by luck."