August 28, 2005 By Alex Fryer
Lt. Col. Erik Kurilla is out of Iraq, recovering from gunshot wounds in a Tacoma hospital.
Although not well-known, Kurilla — the highest ranking soldier from the Fort Lewis-based Stryker Brigade to be seriously wounded in battle — has a dedicated following on the Internet.
For more than eight months, a blog written by independent journalist Michael Yon has chronicled the battles, strategies and sorrows of Kurilla’s unit, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry (“Deuce Four”). Yon’s periodic dispatches often describe details and tactics of the Iraq war not found in the mainstream media. Kurilla is portrayed as tough, dedicated and possessed with an uncanny ability to avoid enemy bullets. That changed last Friday when Kurilla was shot during....
Yon’s dispatches and his photos made it clear that Kurilla was a real soldier and an aggressive combat leader. That’s doesn’t mean that he will do a great job in a 4-star political job, but no one should assume that he is a Biden toady without some substantive evidence.