From Anxious Embed Reporting for Duty (paragraphing edited):
Imagine George Costanza from “Seinfeld” being sent off to cover the Iraq war, and you have a pretty good idea of what Chris Ayres’s hilarious new memoir is like. ***
Although Mr. Ayres leaves the front lines after only nine days – the title of the book, the reader is reminded, is “War Reporting for Cowards” – he gives us some indelible snapshots of the war. He captures that gruesome elixir of boredom and fear that permeates a military campaign, and he conveys the anomalous situation of embedded reporters. ***
He notes that his combat experience had at least one positive consequence: it cured him of his panic attacks and free-floating anxiety.
“I no longer dread the dirty bomb on the Underground; the nuke in Times Square; the anthrax in the post,” he writes. “Battlefield fear has put all other fear into perspective. Perhaps that’s what my generation needs: urgent, mortal terror. I sang in the shower this morning because the water was hot and because no one was trying to kill me. It was a pure, uncomplicated happiness. I can only hope this lasts.”
Needless to say, it’s a luxury still unavailable to many of the soldiers Mr. Ayres and other reporters covered.
Guess I’ll have to read it.
Leave a Reply