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From the fine folks at ABC News: Intense Training Prepares Journalists for War.

When journalists from major media organizations head into a war zone, they typically go armed with specialized training that could save their lives if something goes wrong.

Thank goodness for the mainstream media, that Bob Woodruff got hit by an IED, so they can make a media war even more about themselves. When the story isn't good enough, tell the story of the people telling the story. Vanity much more interesting.

The article is amusing in its self-important tone.

During one "very intense" war zone training program designed for reporters, the instructors emphasized such key points as staying calm during a crisis and assessing the situation carefully, said Jean Fievet, 31, an ABC News assignment editor.

"It certainly brought home the risks involved with reporting in hostile environments," said Fievet, who recently completed a weeklong course near London.

Did Bob Woodruff attend one of these classes? Probably. It didn't do much for him. It certainly did nothing to bring home the risks involved with reporting in hostile environments.

Consider the following:

1. Bob Woodruff, by all photos shown just prior to being in an Iraqi vehicle hit by an IED, was not wearing either his body armor or his Kevlar helmet properly. His chin strap was under his jaw, which could allow for the helmet to come off or at least move from a position of maximum protection in the event of a tramautic event, like an explosion. His body armor was affixed loosely, and the ballistic plate does not appear to be centered high on his chest. Both of these are basic skills - the proper wear of equipment. Must not have been covered in the five day class.

2. Bob Woodruff was wearing inferior body armor. Since the media has such a field day over military body armor, I would like to see a report of injuries sustained by Woodruff and Vogt that could have reasonably been prevented by ABC providing its reporters with the most expensive body armor available. What they wore had no side plates, neck piece, groin piece, shoulder covers, or any other attachment. Or...ABC provided this and Bob choose not to wear it. It is either a failure of the organization not to provide or a failure of the employee not to wear. But someone failed.

3. Bob Woodruff put himself and his cameraman, by choice, into an Iraqi military vehicle for a trip along a route they knew was dangerous. The US military cautioned against this, he did it anyway. There is no excuse for poor decision making except for "user error."

4. Bob Woodruff and his cameraman exposed themselves on top of the Iraqi vehicle for the purpose of filming a shot. News accounts have indicated that this IED was command detonated, which means that an insurgent pushed a button to make the IED explode on that particular vehicle. Most likely because "Woodruff stood in one of the rear hatches, with his legs inside the vehicle. Vogt sat on the ledge of a hatch." I can't begin to describe how incredibly stupid this is. The US military doesn't allow this with vehicles in completely benign environments, because if the vehicle has any sort of accident the person would be thrown. But to do it in a combat zone on a dangerous route? They made themselves a target. And they made the Iraqi Army soldiers and the US Army soldiers targets along with them.

I am sorry Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt were injured. I hope they have full recoveries. But they did everything possible to increase the risk in this situation, and nothing to minimize it. If they were trained on how to "act" in a combat zone, they failed to follow their training.