TALLIL, Iraq -- The war in Iraq has been shown in many shades across world media, society and politics, and U.S. soldiers have been painted as heroes by some and tyrants by others.
A poem entitled, "Through a Soldier's Eyes" by Sgt. Matt Larson, and printed at left, paints a picture of what it's like to be in the U.S. Military and serving in Iraq.
Larson, 24, of Danube is serving in the Minnesota Army National Guard based out of Base Camp Adder. Larson was deployed with the Hutchinson Unit in September of 2005 and is currently a Vehicle Commander, but for the first six months he served as a scout truck gunner.
In an e-mail from Larson Tuesday, he explained the meaning behind his poem. He said he wanted to give people a perspective from a soldier's view.
"One of the biggest reasons I wrote it is because lot of people back home, especially the media, have no idea what it is like for us over here or serving anywhere else," he said. "Most of everything you see on TV is a stretch of the truth and the things that should be shown are not."
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But the poem also holds a much more personal meaning to Larson himself.
"What the poem means to me ... I guess the same as it means for everyone here and serving anywhere, just that this is the job that we chose to do and love and want others to see it as we do, not as the media portrays it," he said in the e-mail. "We just want to be seen and heard and not judged."
Larson is scheduled to be in Iraq until March as part of an 18-month tour. Larson previously served in a peace keeping tour in Kosovo from September 2003 to September 2004. He said he plans on continuing his education in Law Enforcement at Ridgewater College when he returns.
Larson said he would like to dedicate the poem to his close friend, Sgt. Brent Koch of Morton, who was killed in Iraq in June.
