Michael Yon's Afghan Embed Ends W/ C Co. 1-17 Inf

[S2]

The Army in its wisdom has ended Michael Yon's embed. "...Overcrowding by journalists...". Make of it what you will. Yon hadn't seen another journalist in weeks. There's a scuffle going on in the blogosphere and Yon has instigated it, rightly or wrongly. He has his reasons to be mad and few have equalled his work. He was with C Co. 1-17 Inf north of Kandahar at the time the word came down. It is the company in which Kasmir's son is deployed and has suffered very heavy casualties since their deployment began.

Here's Yon's dispatch from the night before, which included some remarkable night photography from a laager position out in the big nothin'...

Under Cover Of The Night-Michael Yon April 11, 2010

Believe it or not but the first photo was taken at 2119 hrs. Lima.

[ROB]

If they were afraid of overcrowding by journalists, then they probably should have kept Yon. He doesn't qualify by a long shot.

[Kasmir]

My son actually completely missed Yon's embed at his COP because it almost exactly coincided with the three weeks my son's 15 day leave entailed. He really wanted to meet Yon.

I admire Yon's work immensely. I've supported his work financially. But he has had a tendency to make his own private opsec judgments. Much of the time he's correct in his assertions that the Taliban should already know everything he discloses, i.e. location of FOB's and COPS's etc, but I think he underestimates the intel value of 3rd party confirmation to the enemy, especially given the necessarily poor communication between local Taliban and the HQ-types in Quetta. For instance, I didn't care to read him scoffing that the Taliban are unaware of the effectiveness of [redacted marksmanship technique]. Why highlight over the internet?

When Michael gets in trouble, he's quick to defend himself through his various media, which only further inflames matters. His relaying gratuitous insults to the Canadian's seemed particularly ill advised, and I doubt his escalation of the KAF bridge incident and his subsequent attacks on Menard won him many friends at ISAF staff.

So given his pattern of marginal opsec violations and his recent taste for political muckraking, it's not surprising he would again be asked to leave an embed on one pretext or another. It's too, too bad, because he's a wonderful correspondent and he seems to be quite popular with nearly everyone who goes outside the wire. But his recent repeated attacks on McChrystal are very painful to read.

He's a wonderful was correspondent, one of the best ever, but it looks like he's jumping sharks now.

[S2]

Kasmir Reply

Had you in mind with this thread. Hope you enjoyed your time with your son. Much deserved and I wish nothing but the best.

I don't follow Yon real closely but have done so off and on since 2005. He's always a good read with great photography. I'll give him credit for being closer to the troops than nearly all. There are notable exceptions and the folks who've gone into the Korengal are among them but he's among the very few who seem to get down in the muck with the troops.

Given the acclaim from his fans there's little doubt that it impairs judgement somewhat. The marksmanship issue has shown up, however, in blogs as far-ranging as the NYT-

C.J. Chivers-one of my other reporter heros, comments on such here-

Putting Taliban Sniper Fire In Context-NYT April 20, 2010

As to the OPSEC value down south in Quetta, there are a variety of open-source avenues that daily spew far more than is necessary and would seem to carry a higher profile than Yon. Not arguing, Kasmir, but the issue of coverage and revealing sensitive info reaches across a wide spectrum.

[Kasmir]

The marksmanship issue has shown up, however, in blogs as far-ranging as the NYT-

I redacted myself perhaps unnecessarily, but the marksmanship technique I was alluding to pertains to effectiveness of machine gun fire, not sniping. I'm sure you can figure it out...

[S2]

Kasmir Reply

"...the marksmanship technique I was alluding to pertains to effectiveness of machine gun fire, not sniping. I'm sure you can figure it out..."

I have. Nuff said.