Letter to the Editor

Recognition for our veterans

I was in the Army during the early part of the Vietnam War. The news media seemed to be more interested in the other side than in our troops. To this day there is an image of the Vietnam veteran as rebellious and negative, even though more of them have accomplished more since the war than any other group of veterans. Will it be the same with today's troops, trying to decide if they should wear their uniforms home from the hospital? Are we honoring the negative and ignoring the positive? Is this news? Who decides?

A true story of bravery from the front lines: Meet Brian Chontosh of Rochester, N.Y. Proud graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Husband and about-to-be father. Captain in the Marine Corps. And a genuine hero. The secretary of the Navy said so.

It makes you wonder if the role of the media is to inform or to depress, to report or to deride, to tell the truth or to feed us lies. But I guess it doesn't matter. We're going to turn out all right as long as men like Brian Chontosh wear our uniform.

Why wasn't this reported on CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC? Instead, we got 24/7 coverage of Tiger Woods' infidelity. What is wrong with this picture?

SHARON NAUGHTON, Cape Girardeau