'My butt was clenched for days'

I wasn't trying to find a war story, but this one is just too good. It's a reporter's notebook-type tale from a British reporter, Chris Ayers, who was "embedded" with the U.S. Marines. Excerpts:

"I realised why some journalists choose to become full-time war correspondents: the thrill of writing an I-nearly-died-a-gruesome-death story is almost unbeatable. It requires, however, that you nearly die a gruesome death," he added.

"To get another story on a similar scale, I thought, I would have to go through the whole nearly-dying thing all over again. And what if I did actually die? Surely only a disturbed person would put themselves in mortal danger simply for front page bragging rights?," Ayres said.

...
Ayres also described coming across gung-ho US journalists, some with US flags on poles. "One US writer, a pale, bespectacled and rather geeky figure like me, kept saying: 'Let's giddyup, motherf***er!'," he said.

"Most of the time, I had no idea where I was or what our unit was doing, adding to the difficulties of filing stories. The worst times were when we moved at night and our driver used night vision goggles to see. My buttocks remained firmly clenched for days on end.