Media's second-guessing isn't useful

By Ken McManaman

JACKSON, Mo. -- American leaders have re-learned, as in past conflicts, that we cannot put our complete trust in foreign fighters such as the northern alliance in Afghan-istan.

For example, in Operation Anaconda now going on in the high mountains of eastern Afghanistan near Gardez, we have had to recently insert Rangers, SEALs, Green Berets and other special operations personnel into treacherous, mountainous terrain akin to battlefield conditions in Korea to flush out and kill Taliban and al-Qaida extremists who have regrouped there to again seize control of that war-ravaged country.

The American military was inserted because only it could do the job. The fighters of the northern alliance cannot be fully trusted and do not have the skills nor the determination and resolve to do what has to be done in order to fully extinguish terror in Afghanistan.

The American news media, however, especially the electronic media, have made a big deal about the fact -- after an extraordinarily conservative American military approach to this conflict in Afghan-istan, and with incredibly small American losses until this week -- that we now have lost a few military personnel in this latest thrust into the mountains to destroy the terrorists.

In addition to the media's drama about the recent loss of several Americans in battle -- which clearly had been anticipated by normal, everyday Americans, but not the media elite -- the media are also now questioning a long-established unwritten code of honor embraced by military special operations personnel who will not ever leave a fellow operator on the battlefield, even if he is dead.

Until a few days ago, that code was never questioned. But in light of the heartbreaking loss of a young SEAL, Neil Roberts, this code of honor is being questioned by the media as being inappropriate. Roberts fell from an HC-53 helicopter. A second helicopter was dispatched to retrieve him. As a result, a handful of military fatalities occurred. The SEAL in question was captured and brutally executed, and the second helicopter sent in to rescue him was ambushed and shot down.

What happened was undoubtedly tragic, but in a war this sort of thing happens. It is what makes war horrific and despicable.

Further, the unwritten code of honor -- "No man will be left behind" -- is the backbone of the American special operations community in particular and the U.S. armed forces in general. To mock or question this code serves no useful purpose. To the contrary, the questioning has a direct, devastating and demoralizing effect on our fighting men similar to the sort of demoralizing remarks propagated by the media elite and heard by our forces throughout the Vietnam War. This sort of talk was one of the reasons our fighting men came back from that conflict feeling betrayed.

What the media and the talking heads on TV do not understand is that a unique and extremely close bond develops among men who train, live, fight and die together in combat. Men in combat are obsessively and compulsively loyal to those they fight alongside. They each believe in fighting for freedom and for each other. If asked, they will tell you that they become far closer to their battle mates than virtually anyone else in their lives, including, in many instances, their own spouses.

Each of these brave men knowingly and voluntarily risks his own life for the protection and security of his fellow comrades. It is something that is done with pride and admiration and with an expectation that others would do the same if placed in the same situation.

Each of these heroes merely wants to know without any doubt or reservation that if he dies in a foreign land fighting for his country, buddies and freedom under circumstances that may never be fully disclosed, his body will be saved by his comrades in arms and returned to his loved ones.

There is something sacred, compelling and truly honorable in this code. The media have no business questioning it, because they do not understand loyalty, fidelity, integrity and the sacred bond that develops in battle conditions.

The media's pedantic hand-wringing, both about the loss of life of American warriors in this war against terror and about the code of conduct which drives our most motivated and talented young warriors, is counter-productive. In my opinion, the media engage in this mostly for purposes of shock and sensationalism and because it is easy to second-guess the military in hindsight.

Instead of questioning these issues, however, the media should embrace this code of honor and provide support to our men and women in uniform and the families and loved ones left at home.

These are my personal thoughts and feelings and not those of the Department of Defense or the Department of the Navy.

Ken McManaman is a captain in the Judge Advocate General's Corps of the U.S. Naval Reserve.