Michael Yon (born 1964)^[1] is an American writer and photographer. He served in the Special Forces in the early-1980s, and he became a writer in the mid-1990s. He focused on military writing after the invasion of Iraq.^[2] Yon has been embedded on numerous occasions with American and British troops in Iraq, most prominently a deployment with the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment (Deuce Four) of the 25th Infantry Division in Mosul, Iraq that ended in September 2005.^[3]

Yon has had vocal feuds with the United States military hierarchy, and the nature of his reports is also controversial.^[2] However, Yon at one time enjoyed “rock star” status among individual soldiers, according to Brian Williams of NBC.^[4] Yon’s alternative media reporting has been mentioned by numerous mainstream media agencies, and he has won accolades from the 2005, 2007,^[5] and 2008 Weblog Awards.^[6] In 2008, The New York Times reported that he has spent more time embedded with combat units than any other journalist in Iraq.^[1] He shifted the focus of his blogging from Iraq to Afghanistan in August 2008.^[7] His work is supported primarily by donations from readers.^[8]