Is our media culture hurting our soldiers?

I was sitting here at the computer browsing THR and listening to Fox News when they did a story on all of the things PFC Jessica Lynch has waiting for her when she returns home. It got me to thinking....

Is it wise to give such personal coverage to everyone who is killed, wounded or captured? Does anyone remember the media frenzy over the three soldiers who were captured by the Serbs in Macedonia a few years ago? None of them are still serving in the Army and from interviews I read in Army Times all the hero worshiping and attention they got made it impossible for them to continue their careers.

What about all the attention that's been paid to the families of the casualties. When they were rare at the start of the war, the press made a big deal of all of them. As the numbers of KIA increased, the media attention decreased from names and interviews with every relative they could get to talk to them to saying that 3 were killed today.

This post is not meant to take anything from anyone who has served and sacrificed, but is all this celebrity healthy?

Personally I'm not so sure.

Jeff

I had to turn off the TV the night of PFC Lynch's rescue when Fox News put the Staff Sergeant who recruited her on. We wondered who was next the civilian employee at CIF at Ft Bliss who issued her DCUs?

I have mixed feelings on the embedded reporters. On one hand the press gets to live the life of a soldier and I'm sure that the experience will influence their perception of the military forever. On the other hand, I think that the rules should have been more restrictive on when they could release their stories. I think many of the front line reports should only have been filed at least 48 hours after the action. That way casualty assistance officers could do their work without having to compete with the media.

Jeff