"GO and try it yourself" - that was the response delivered by Mary Nevile, mother of Iraq war journalist James Mates, to a guest on a Radio Four show who criticised media coverage of the conflict.
Speaking on the Today programme, Philip Knightly claimed that reporters travelling with frontline forces (known as embedded) were living the life of Riley and "in bed with them".
Dismayed by the remarks, Mrs Nevile penned a letter to Radio Four defending her son and colleagues, and to her surprise it was read out live on air.
She said it was totally insulting to those working in an extremely difficult environment. and rubbished suggestions that reporters with the BBC or ITN would be biased in their news coverage.
Since leaving for the Gulf last month, James Mates has been at the centre of the televised coverage. He has reported on fierce combat in Nasiriya, and followed the advance to Baghdad.
Supporting him, Mrs Nevile said in her letter: "Being the mother of a journalist out there, I am well aware of the dangers that they all face in Iraq. Already there have been nine reporters killed - mostly from friendly fire.
"As well as the lack of sleep, sandstorms and extreme heat and weight of body armour, they are extremely vulnerable not being able to defend themselves. Mr Knightly should experience some of the above rather than criticising from a warm comfortable studio!"
Mrs Nevile added that she had recently heard from her son and that he had been "horrified" by the amount of looting which had been going on in Baghdad.
He was also disturbed at the lack of medical facilities within the city, and had been particularly upset and touched by one high profile case of a 12-year-old boy, Ali. The youngster had his arms blown off in the conflict and was unable to receive proper treatment in the chaos surrounding the aftermath of the fighting.
She shared her son's feelings that such cases were amongst the worst aspect of the war.