Praise for Tribune's coverage of Camp Roberts troop deployment

Robert Olson of Arroyo Grande wrote Tribune reporter Leah Etling to thank her for her article Sunday on troops at Camp Roberts preparing for deployment.
In his words, “I particularly liked what you wrote because you successfully wrapped the local and personal impacts of the deployment around the national story of war in Iraq. Few writers seem able to do this. In fact, most news writers these days cannot get past the first sentence on this subject without writing something disparaging about the men and women of our military and the war. You did just the opposite, letting the story tell itself through your words and not your opinions. … Of particular note, you took the time to quote or describe the feelings of some of these brave soldiers and the reasons why they volunteer to do what they do.”

I too thought Etling reported and wrote the story well, giving context on who the soldiers are, where they’re from – and as Olson noted, why they’ve volunteered for this difficult duty.

We continue to seek wire stories reported from Iraq that give all of us insight into developments there – both positive and negative. And let me take this opportunity to say again that we welcome hearing firsthand from local troops in Iraq.
-- Sandy Duerr