Read key chapters online:

Chapter 1: The U.S. Military Today

Chapter 2 and 3: The Military Press Today and Organizing the Military Beat

Chapter 4 and 5: The Public Affairs Officer and Going to Meet the Man

Chapter 6 and 7: Going Into the Field and Surviving the Pentagon

Chapter 13 and 14: Going to War

"Journalist Ed Offley, an experienced newspaper reporter of military affairs, has written a book that should be required reading for military writers and news hounds."

— Mike O'Callaghan, Las Vegas Sun, Feb 28, '02

"...a how-to handbook aimed at stateside reporters thrown into military matters, the kind of tool that every newsroom library needs."

— Carl Sessions Stepp,
American Journalism Review, Jan/Feb 2002

Pen & Sword
A Journalist's Guide to Covering the Military

ISBN: 0-9665176-4-4, paper, 311 pages, $24.95

Covering defense and the military is much more than a regular beat. Stories written by military reporters can range from an interview with a local recruit heading off to boot camp to coverage of a war on foreign soil. In between are thousands of stories about local and regional military installations, exercises and operations, businesses that support the military, and the thousands of people involved.

Pen & Sword will help military reporters, from novices to veterans, understand:
- Military basics
- How to organize a military beat
- Protocol for interviewing military personnel
- How to go into the field with military units
- How to deal with the Pentagon
- Essential information for covering the defense industry

Pen & Sword also contains 13 case studies that graphically illustrate the military beat, a thorough background reading list, and a glossary of acronyms.