If you turn on your TV right now and flip through the reality shows, the four-alarm evening news and the sportscaster coverage of the primaries, you might think Americans have either forgotten they are at war, or are so hopelessly divided that discussion beyond the grim statistics is strictly verbotten.

But millions of Americans still take the occupation of Iraq very seriously, and whether for or against or in between, they are struggling to understand it. Since Major Andrew Olmsted was called to Iraq to train the Iraqi army, his blog has become a vital part of the serious, nuanced discussion happening on the internet. As a dutiful soldier and a thoughtful blogger, Olmsted was the kind of unedited voice that could only reach us in the age of the internet. On January 3, 2008, he was killed by a sniper in Iraq and the news of his death has reverberated throughout the blogosphere. Olmsted left a post to publish in the event of his death, and reading it can give you just a little better idea of what is happening over there.

By guest blogger Tom