Journalism in Washington, D.C., is all about scoops and access to the senior policymakers. To survive and prosper as a member of the Fourth Estate in the Beltway, you need to knock on doors, cultivate sources in the bowels of the bureaucracy, get a revelatory quote from an influence peddler, or maybe even land an exclusive interview with the president of the United States himself.

Some of the most memorable and emotionally touching stories published over the years, however, are the work of reporters and correspondents who focus on the people whose lives are impacted by the decisions made in the Situation Room. This is especially the case on matters of war and peace, where ordinary soldiers like Spc. Robert Soto from the Bronx (who enlisted at the ripe young age of 19) deploy to the unforgiving peaks and valleys of Afghanistan’s Korengal Valley on the orders of the generals back at headquarters. Soto, along with his brothers-in-arms 2nd Lt. Justin Smith, Staff Sgt. Nathan Cox, Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Wright, and Pfc. Richard Dewater, are the protagonists of a remarkable piece by C.J. Chivers in the Aug. 8 edition of the New York Times Magazine. And it was remarkable not only for the action-packed combat scenes and the highly detailed descriptions of what these men went through during their deployment in Eastern Afghanistan, but also for Chivers’ focus on the grunts in the field fighting the war rather than the high-ranking officials in the Pentagon seeking to sell it.