Abstract : The American public has a right to know how its nation's treasures are expended. The reinvigoration of the embedded media program during Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF) was implemented to accomplish just this mission. Embedded media participated in unprecedented numbers during OIF. Some 692 embedded media had the unique experience to live, work, sleep, and even die among the U.S. forces operating in Iraq. Some had preconceived agendas about how they were going to exploit the terrible horrors they were about to encounter in an effort to degrade the military leadership, dissuade the civilian leadership, or perhaps dismantle the public will as was arguably successful during Vietnam. The majority, however, volunteered to recount the actual events as they happened and bring them home to living rooms across the globe. Their intention was to display the facts in real time as they happened and allow the public to decide upon the veracity. The presence of media on the battlefield, however, poses unique challenges to both the tactical commander as well as the operational commander. The intent of this paper is to compare and contrast the embedded media's impact on the tactical and operational commander.