The James Logan Courier

By David McLemore
The Dallas Morning News (MCT)

FRISCO, Texas — Three years ago, Alex Horton joined the Army knowing he would go to war and hoping he'd find adventure. He did. The high school kid from Frisco who quoted dialogue from Patton verbatim learned quickly that it was nothing like the movies.

During his 15 months in Iraq with the 3rd Stryker Brigade, Spc. Horton, 21, faced sniper attacks, improvised explosive devices, moments of horror and the age-old tedium and Catch-22 absurdities of military life. He chronicled what he saw in his blog, Army of Dude, a Web-based journal that, in simple, eloquent prose, depicts the war as seen from a front-row seat.