While at the Combined Press Information Center (CPIC) here in Baghdad today, a pair of Spanish journalists – a newspaper reporter and a photojournalist – walked in, fresh from their embed with the 1-4 Cavalry of the 1st Infantry Division in Iraq. They had spent two weeks amongst the troops there, living and going on missions with them, including house-to-house searches and seizures, and their impressions of these soldiers were extremely clear.

“Absolutely amazing,” said David Beriain, the reporter (and the only one who spoke English), of the young Cavalry troops. “In Spain, it’s embarrassing – our soldiers are ashamed to be in the army. These young men – and they seem so young! – are so proud of what they do, and do it so well, even though it is dangerous and they could very easily be killed.” Beriain explained that the company he had been embedded with had lost three men in the span of six days while he was there – one to a sniper and two to an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which had blown an armored Humvee into the air and flipped it onto its roof. Despite this, he said, and despite some of the things which they might have said in the heat of the moment after seeing another comrade die, the soldiers’ resolve and morale was unshaken in the long term, and they remained committed to carrying out their mission to the best of their ability for the duration of their tour here.

http://www.redstate.com/sections/special_events