(CNN) -- Bullets were pinging off our armor, all over our vehicle, and you could hear multiple RPGs being fired, soaring through the air every which way and impacting all around us. All sorts of crazy insane Hollywood explosions were going off. I've never felt fear like this. I was like, this is it, I'm going to die. Army machine gunner Colby Buzzell posted unfiltered blog entries from Iraq about his combat experiences. When U.S. Army machine gunner Colby Buzzell began blogging about his combat experiences from a military base in Mosul, Iraq, he wasn't looking for attention or trouble. Buzzell just wanted a way to chronicle what he saw and did and felt during the Iraq war.
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Army machine gunner Colby Buzzell began blogging from Iraq in 2004
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His blog gained media attention for its refreshing, unvarnished candor
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The Army encourages active-duty soldiers to blog as a way to educate the public
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But soldiers are prohibited from posting details that could compromise troops' safety
@placeholder erupted in gunfire, and Buzzell's platoon survived an ambush by swarms of black-clad insurgents wielding rocket-propelled grenades.