Michael Yon's latest, Proximity Delays, is up.

Yon discusses the effect on him of 'proximity delay', how his observations are so close to the soldiers and mission that he is many times constrained in what he can say.

The Zarqawi letter, for instance. Yon knew about it a week before CNN:

kept silent for days on the Zarqawi-letter dispatch, ready to post what was probably the single most important piece of insider information to drop into our hands in quite some time. I requested clearance several times per day, each time being asked to hold back. I complied.

But then, without even giving the leaders at Deuce Four a head's up, a typically entralling military press release went out to major, mainstream, media outlets. We all learned of it on CNN. The Zarqawi-letter story was almost unrecognizable. Because, in the hands of a network that hasn't had a body in the field in Mosul long enough to get their bearings, the best the media could do is paraphrase the military press release. So what should have been a front page banner headline story ended up buried on page 6.

Yet another example of how 'news' from the tee-bee will give one a distorted view of reality.

LTC Kurilla was shot 3 times in combat yesterday, may God watch over him and bring him through this. Kurilla is a heroic figure and a prime example of the American GI.
Says Yon in his post script:

The operation has begun. The Commander of Deuce Four, LTC Erik Kurilla, was shot three times in combat yesterday in front of my eyes. Despite being seriously wounded, LTC Kurilla immediately rejoined the intense and close-quarter fight that ended in hand-to-hand combat. LTC Kurilla continued to direct his men until a medic gave him morphine and the men took him away. I was right there. When I returned to base, I was actually "ordered" not to write about the fighting until given clearance, and was told that my phones could be confiscated. I will ignore such "orders" at my own discretion. I am preparing a dispatch now.

I love this guy and don't even know him. Both guys - Yon and Kurilla. Thank God for them both.