Bridging Two Worlds

An excellent piece in the Columbia Journalism Review by Matt Mabe, a U.S. officer with two tours of duty in Iraq who went on to Columbia for grad school. The choice can seem strange but for Mabe 'journalism, like the military, isn’t just a profession; it’s a lifestyle and an invaluable American institution from which we derive our most cherished freedoms.' It makes for some bittersweet reading as he describes the incomprehension and disrespect for one another between the military on one hand and media and university professionals on the other.

He seems to have, in a small way, reconciled these two clashing worlds and determined to serve as a link between. Pen and sword, it seems, can meet, although, if you read till the end, you'll see how the latter won out in Mabe's case. Well worth reading.