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Blog brings the war home

Aug-26-2005 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

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by Aaron Blake and Rob Hotakainen, Star Tribune

WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Army Lt. Col. Michael Erik Kurilla had just been shot three times and his thigh bone had snapped. He came firing -- and shouting orders at the soldiers behind him.

Kurilla, 39, formerly of Minneapolis, was wounded in a firefight in an alley in Mosul, Iraq, on Aug. 19. On Friday, the battalion commander had surgery and was recuperating at Madigan Army Medical Center in Tacoma, Wash.

In a sign of how technology is changing the way in which the war is reported, anyone with access to the internet can see the graphic episode that put Kurilla in the hospital.

The entire incident was captured on film by independent photojournalist Michael Yon, an author and blogger. His photographs, published Thursday at michaelyon.blogspot.com, show Kurilla taking the three bullets from insurgents in Mosul.

His family is expecting him to recover fully.

"He's doing good," said Tommy Raye, 42, a brother-in-law from Bogart, Ga. "I mean, that guy's a warrior, dude."

Raye described Kurilla as "extremely bright, on the scary side of the spectrum." He said he was not surprised when he saw the photographs.

"There's no surprise when he's out front," Raye said. "That's just who he is. Some guys are born leaders. This guy's a born leader. ... He's smart, tough and compassionate, all rolled into one. He is the guy you're happy is on your side, straight up."

For months, Yon has been documenting the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment -- nicknamed "Deuce-Four" -- that Kurilla commands. Yon casts Kurilla as a tough and heroic figure with a sixth sense about the enemy. He is described as a commander who calls the families of wounded soldiers before the Army does so that loved ones can get a direct account. [...]


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