The Milblogosphere
When the mainstream media lost touch with the military community, the military community created its own network online.
On May 26, 2003, Army Maj. Mathew E. Schram was killed while leading a resupply convoy in western Iraq. A support operations officer for the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Carson, Colo., Schram was responsible for ensuring his troops never ran out of food, fuel or ammo.
The convoy set out early, followed by a car carrying an embedded reporter from a major weekly magazine. When insurgents ambushed the vehicles, Schram was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade while trying to protect his men, and the reporter.
Later, Matt Burden of Chicago wrote of his friend: