The synchonicity of this with Alex's post is great.

Channel Offers Unusual Takes on War, Courtesy of Soldiers on the Front Lines
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/21/AR2007032101962.html
Washington Post
By Jackie Spinner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 22, 2007; Page B01
Soldiers submit video clips from their service in Iraq and Afghanistan to the Military Channel, part of the Discovery Channel. The clips represent a wide range of life on the front line -- soldiers in battle, goofing around in their off time, taking target practice. The soldiers who have submitted video clips said it is important for them to get their stories out without the traditional journalistic filter.

The footage is raw, jerky and crude. In one clip, two American soldiers wrestle, one so skinny he barely has a chance. He is easily flipped to the floor, to the laughter of his buddies. In another, a mortar goes off near a guard tower, and the camera is suddenly still as soldiers abandon filming to defend their position against the repeated shuddering blasts.

Sgt. Robert Waples of the Maryland Army National Guard recently visited the Discovery Channel studios, where producer Kip Prestholdt worked on video clips Waples had recorded during a tour of duty in Iraq. The video clips -- edited only for length and screened for operational security -- have been running every hour for about a month on the Military Channel, an outlet of Discovery Communications Inc. available through digital and satellite television. Called "Voices from the Front," the segments, about 45 to 50 seconds each, are culled from video recorded by troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The clips offer viewers a look at how troops equipped with digital cameras and Internet access are recording their own tales of life at war, without the storytelling conventions imposed by journalists or historians. The troops want to show the American public that they are not just getting blown up, maimed and killed. More than their predecessors in past wars, these troops have the technology and the know-how to give a direct account of what their lives are like.

(click on link above for full story and lots of video clips)