Blogger gains following with Iraq reports

"WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - He didn't have to go, it wasn't his job and nobody paid him to do it. But Michael Yon says he went to Iraq because he wanted to see for himself what was happening in the war zone.
The 41-year-old former Green Beret and author was embedded as a freelance journalist with troops last year and used an Internet blog to report on car bombs, firefights and fallen soldiers. He also wrote about acts of compassion and heroism, small triumphs in the country's crawl toward democracy and the gritty inner workings of the military.
Yon's dispatches have been extolled by readers as gutsy and honest reporting. His blog has been quoted by major newspapers and TV news networks, and he has drawn comparisons to Ernie Pyle, the renowned World War II correspondent who shared the trenches with fighting soldiers.
Yon followed the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment through battles against insurgents in Mosul. The unit, which is based at Fort Lewis, Wash., is known as the "Deuce Four.""
MercuryNews