Soldiers on the Ground in Iraq Go Online With War Videos

Sept. 10, 2007 — -- The surge of online video has dramatically changed the scope of war coverage because the public no longer has to rely on journalists anymore for vivid images of conflicts overseas. Instead we get an unprecedented view of the military directly from those on the ground.

Soldiers and Marines are shooting videos -- documenting IED attacks, firefights and personal and captivating moments of the soldiers' everyday lives. Moments which provide a window into today's G.I. Joes as they pass time in the barracks, entertain themselves and share their frustrations and unfiltered opinions on how they feel about the war, Iraqis and the people back home. They capture raw glimpses of the front lines that no embedded reporter can.

A Day in the Life

"I'm not a big fan of these kids in the Middle East, all they do is beg," Marine Lance Cpl. Brock Brothers said in a video blog as he taught a young Iraqi boy how to slap five. He has done tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. "But this kid I like. I give him something and he gives me gum in return," Brothers said.

Another of Brothers' videos show what were once tender moments with children have turned into contempt. "The first week I had love in my heart. The second week, its like, 'Get the f--k away from me.'"

The daily routine of patrolling often becomes cumbersome and soldiers have no problems expressing themselves with a blunt honesty never seen in recruiting ads. "Waste of f-----g time," exclaimed one Marine. "For all the people back home this is what my life has come down to," said another into his megaphone after having a Star Wars-like saber fight with a fellow platoon member using their metal detectors.

Bored in Iraq

While many of the videos show graphic scenes of combat, some are more lighthearted. Type "bored in Iraq" into a search engine and you'll find video of soldiers Tasering each other for entertainment, moon walking like Michael Jackson, and even rapping from the desert.

Air Force pilots Justin Simms and Josh Houck created a parody of the hit song "This Is Why I'm Hot" by MIMS, changing the lyrics to "I'm hot because I'm deployed, you ain't cause you're not."

Yet even the milder fare carries the constant reminder that even during seemingly endless spells of boredom, in war, danger always lurks. Witness this group of soldiers: Some are playing poker and others are dancing around when they get interrupted by a mortar attack.

"You hear of people getting shot at, blown up, you know, those moments, in between those scary moments are what you know, bond you together," said Sgt. Patrick Campbell, who started taking pictures and videos to give people back home a sense of what it was like in Iraq.

And for every heartwarming moment captured on tape and shared online, dozens of others might make Pentagon officials cringe. "If you want to live a miserable life, join the Marine Corps. It's f-----g great," said one Marine.

You Can't Say That

Despite the unabashed content contained in some of the videos, soldiers will still be allowed to carry cameras, according to Torie Clark, a former secretary of Defense spokeswoman. "That's like saying in World War II, 'We're going to take pen and paper away.' They are not going to do it."

But this past May, the Pentagon did ban all service members from accessing YouTube, MySpace and many other social networking and video sharing sites from all military computers; not for censorship, they say, but rather to free up Internet bandwidth.

"Every corporation in America deals with these same sort of issues. What can and should people be doing on company time, on company equipment, what vulnerabilities can that bring into our system?" said Clark, who is also an ABC News consultant.

The Pentagon said troops are still free to upload and blog from Internet cafes or commercial "morale centers" found on bases, but soldiers tell "i-Caught" that's easier said than done.

"The army trusted me with a gun, they should at least trust that I'm not going to put ridiculous stuff on the Internet," said Campbell of the policy which he considers censorship.

The War Tapes

Some of the rawest footage on the Web began as a documentary film called "The War Tapes." With the approval of the New Hampshire National Guard, three reservists were given cameras and asked to record a soldier's eye view of the war -- with all the fear and anger, loneliness and pride that comes with it.

In one scene, Sgt. Stephen Pink provides rare insight, when he thanks God for saving him from a nearby attack. To celebrate, he spends "some alone time" with a letter from his girlfriend. "I'm going to masturbate, because these pages smell like Lynn," he confesses.

Though the film gave his girlfriend and family vivid understanding of his tour, Pink said if he could do it all over again, he would not bring a camera and thinks future soldiers shouldn't either. "It's extremely dangerous to be concerned with the camera when you're in the middle of a fight. As a sergeant I wouldn't have approved it."

But Campbell argues the more troops are seen and heard the better because without them, the American public will never comprehend how hard the decisions about the war in Iraq are. "You don't fully understand that until you've been on the ground."