"Shock Troops" tale continues to unravel

As we mentioned yesterday, the Weekly Standard continues to investigate the highly inflammatory New Republic article on the troops in Iraq. These new observations are from our troops on the front lines:

One active duty soldier who asks that his name be withheld
writes in:
I was based at Falcon last year for six months with the 101st
Airborne. I never saw a woman who fits Thomas's description. That's not
conclusive since I haven't been there for almost eight months. But I can say
this. The dining facility at Falcon is not large (maybe 200 yards by 50 yards)
and the tables are very close together. I cannot remember eating a meal without
having an officer or a senior NCO in earshot -- none of whom would tolerate such
cruelty for a moment. Moreover, Falcon isn't that large and the faces become
familiar quickly. One gets used to and comes to know everyone pretty
easily.

Another active duty reader writes in:

In the 11 months I've been here [at FOB Falcon] I've never
once seen a female contractor with a burned face. In a compact place like this
with only one mess hall I or one of my guys would certainly have noticed someone
like that. There are a few female contractors, I think maybe a dozen, but none
fit the horrific description given in that article. Further, I've personally
seen guys threatened with severe physical harm for making jokes of any kind
about IED victims given the number of casualties all the units on this FOB have
sustained. It is not a subject we take lightly. Gallows humor jokes do get told,
but extremely seldom and never about anyone they actually know or are in the
presence of.

We will continue to follow this story as more info comes in.

Update-Scott Johnson at Powerline calls on the New Republic editors to explain themselves.

And via The Tank, Slate Online wonders if the story is all Shock and bull?

More-Confederate Yankee writes TNR a letter ( you can too via letters@tnr.com)

A Bloggers Roundtable.

Update-New Republic responds.