Under attack: Brian Williams’ Iraq tale

It was a week ago that NBC anchor Brian Williams told a story from back in 2003 when he was covering the Iraq War; saying that he was flying over the desert …

“When the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down by an RPG.”

Of course we now know his helicopter was not hit by an RPG, but only by small arms fire, according to the pilot, who talked to CNN, “We took small arms fire. It struck the belly, but in the forward cabin area.”

So it’s not like he made everything up.

But what’s surprising is that this whole thing erupted because Williams wanted to honor the soldier who befriended him on that day 12 years ago, by taking him to a hockey game, where they got a shout-out from the PA announcer – which Williams broadcast on his show:

“Please welcome Command Sgt. Major Tim Turpack and Brian Williams.”

You would think that would have shielded him from some of the flack – but it didn’t.

The reason may be that vets see these media shout-outs a little differently than the rest of us.

I heard an interview from a while back with an Iraq war vet by the name of Jason Moon on North Carolina Pubic Radio.

“I’ve never figured out why, when I’m at a Veterans Day event, that they make me stand up to honor me,” said Moon. “This isn’t about me, it’s about you. It’s about everyone feeling really good and clapping and feeling like they did something patriotic.”

In the case of the shout-out at the hockey game, you get the feeling that the hockey team and Brian Williams weren’t just thanking a soldier for his service. They wanted to be seen thanking a soldier for his service.

This time, it backfired.