When U.S. Army Sgt. Nelson Quintana shipped out to Iraq, there were two things he knew he wanted to take with him — calling cards so he could talk to his family back home and a video camera so he could send images of what he saw.

The calling cards turned out to be useless; they didn't work in Iraq. But the camera did. Purchased for $200 at a store at the U.S. base in Ramstein, Germany, Quintana's camera took in scenes and stories from his nine-month deployment in Iraq to create a series of digital letters home.

"You want to record it so you can remember the people you were there with and take snapshots of certain times and places you've been to," Quintana says by phone from Miami, where he is now a police officer.

Soldiers' desire to record — and share — their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan has flooded video-sharing sites like YouTube.com with images unlike any seen during previous conflicts.

We see war through the soldiers' eyes, sometimes when they're still there. We can hear the emotion in their voices. We can see the explosions.

A new documentary series called "My War Diary" is corralling these roughhewn images, seeking to turn them into a coherent narrative. It airs on the Discovery network's Military Channel beginning Friday and includes interviews with soldiers such as Quintana to find out what they were thinking and how they felt.

"Sometimes the footage on its own could be sort of confusing," says Mark Allen, an executive producer of the series. "But if you know the story behind it, it's like: 'Wow, that's what that is. That's a camera that he put onto his shoulder, onto his arm and then went into battle.'"

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"See that puff of smoke? That's just an IED that just went off," Quintana explains in a video he made for his wife.

He turns the camera to his face. The sun is bright, dark glasses cover his eyes.

"We're moving in to secure the area right now," he says. "We're moving in. I love you. Bye."

Immediate and portable, digital technology is changing forever the images we get from war.

"They're not lugging around a betacam, running through the streets like the news. This is something that they clip on," says Eric Schotz, another executive producer.

And as the fighting continues, the images from the front lines are becoming more sophisticated, Allen says.

"They're actually getting quite good at filming," he says. "They're putting on music, they're editing. Some of them have a decent sense of comic timing and story. It's really interesting in that way."

Other images are more impressionistic — a cloud of black smoke from a car bomb, oceans of light brown sand crisscrossed by vehicle tracks, bright orange flames rippling from an explosion.

What they have in common are their immediacy. "This is a way of getting some of these stories that you'd hear at the VFW hall 20 years from now — today," Allen says.

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The two "My War Diary" episodes available for preview show U.S. servicemen and women in a good light — having fun during their downtime, helping Iraqis vote.

The producers say they won't avoid darker images in future episodes. Certainly, the videos that prove the most popular online can be downright disturbing, such as when Americans cheer and curse wildly as warplanes obliterate entire neighborhoods.

The key is providing context, Schotz says.

"It's war, and it's real, and in war they don't go 'Oh gosh, gee whiz, I just got blown up,'" he says. "We're tracking down these soldiers and talking to them ... having them explain what it is."

The U.S. military keeps tabs on the video-sharing sites and demands the removal of anything that compromises the security of American operations or shows prisoners in a degrading way, says U.S. Army Master Sgt. Lisa Beth Snyder.

"We want the soldier, sailor, airman, Marine, etc., to stop and think about what's on that video before they let the rest of the world — including just their family — to see it," she says.

"Once they hit the button to send it even just to family, it's public. So, they need to stop and think: Is this something that everyone needs to know about?" she adds. "If it isn't, then they need to keep it to themselves."

Snyder checked the videos used in the series and says she didn't veto any of them. The producers concur. The Military Channel has no connection to the U.S. military.

In Quintana's view, it's vital for Americans to see images from the wars being fought in their name.

"I don't think that the public needs to see soldiers hurt in any way, shape or form," he says, "but as far as the everyday life of soldiers — going through what they see, what they feel — I think it's very important."

Americans "are being told that things are going a certain way," he says. "It's only fitting that they get to see it."

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The first episode of "My War Diary" airs Friday, Nov. 10 at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific (check your local listings) on the Military Channel. A total of 12 episodes are planned.

Find it online: http://www.mywardiary.com

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