I've been getting a lot of email from you all over the past week, and I apologize for not having had a chance to respond to it all personally. Here are a couple of common questions:
Q: Why aren't you, or when are you going to, show other Minnesota troops besides Bravo Company.
A1: Transportation in Iraq is very slow/difficult/unperdictable (read some of my earlier posts about the trip from Kuwait to Fallujah), if I tried to visit other bases I would be spending my entire 2 weeks waiting for helicopters instead of taking pictures.
A2: I thought there was more value in focusing on just one group of soldiers, and really taking the time to get to know them in order to provide in-depth coverage that is hopefully representative of all the Minnesota Guard soldier serving in Iraq to some extent.
Q: Are you endangering soldier by tell where they are? Are you endangering a soldier's family by saying where they are from?
A1: I have very strict guidelines about what I can an cannot write about. I will never write about future operations, or operations still in progress, and I will not discuss military locations in Iraq that are not already widely known by insurgents.
A2: I believe it is very common practice to list a soldier's hometowns, it helps readers/viewers identify with the soldiers. That said, if any individual or soldiers family had a problem with their hometown being listed I would certainly remove it from my website and photos immeadiately.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The worst sound in Iraq...
... is a medivac helicopter. Camp Fallujah's hospital is only a few hundred meters from Bravo Company's area here on Camp Fallujah, and we've seen two medivac helicopters come in this morning (it's 8:00 am here).
To be very clear these are NOT carrying Bravo Company soldiers, or Minnesota National Guard soldiers to the best of my knowledge, and no Bravo Company soldier has been wounded in the week that I've been here, with exception of one broken ankle (a non-combat injury).
But almost everyone in Bravo Company has seen a medivac come in for one of their own at some point in the field, they know what it means. And when one flies over our area to land at the hospital you see people visibly disturbed.
KSTP coverage
Here is the link to watch my daily spots on KSTP Channel 5 News in Minneapolis:
http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S29912.shtml?cat=86
http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S29912.shtml?cat=86
Monday, February 12, 2007
Watch me on KSTP Channel 5
KSTP Channel 5 Minneapolis ran my first piece on the 10:00pm news last night. I don't know if it ran on any other Minnesota ABC stations.
For those of you that live outstate, or don't have time to sit glued to your TV, you should be able to watch the stories online at the KSTP website soon (no link yet).
For those of you that live outstate, or don't have time to sit glued to your TV, you should be able to watch the stories online at the KSTP website soon (no link yet).
4x6 prints available
I've had multiple requests for prints of the pictures I've been posting. Unfortunately, the size of the digital images I've been able upload from Iraq are too small to do enlargements, but on consideration they should print fine at 4x6.
And so 4x6 prints are now available of all the photos I'm posting from Iraq for $5.00
After I get back I will update all photos to full sized digital originals, and you will be able order prints of you soldier up to poster size 20x30.
And so 4x6 prints are now available of all the photos I'm posting from Iraq for $5.00
After I get back I will update all photos to full sized digital originals, and you will be able order prints of you soldier up to poster size 20x30.
Help bring Max the interpreter home
I think I've found one cause where we can actually make a little difference on the war here in Iraq with this little project.
Max is an 18 year old Iraqi man from Baghdad, he has been working for the coalition forces as an interpreter since he was 16 years old, first with the Marines, and for the past year with Bravo company. Max appears in several pictures I took on yesterday's patrol, in every picture his face is covered to protect his identity, and we take extreme care to make sure we don't do anything that might reveal his identity.
He has been in combat almost daily for 17 months. He wears the same uniform and carries the same weapons as our soldiers, but he has no formal military training. He has been IED'd multiple times, and holds his own in every fire fight. There is no doubt that if he were to return to Baghdad today he would be killed, and so he has no choice but to keep doing what he is doing.
Max's father is unemployed, and he and Max's mother and two brothers live in a dangerous part of Baghdad (they all are I guess). Max sends most of the $1,000 dollars he earns each month home to support his family.
Captain Chip Rankin, the Bravo Company commander, is launching a full force campaign to bring Max home to the US with Bravo Company. There are 8 interpreters with Bravo Company, but only one Max, he has given a great deal, essentially given up the rest of his life in Iraq to support his family, and he is still one of the most cheerful, charming, exceptional people you have ever met.
Max's ambitions are modest. He would like to finish high school, and then maybe join the US Military. The military is the only thing he knows, and so I think his eyes may open to broader options when he gets to US, and sees that there is more to life than war.
Unfortunately the official waiting list to get Max to the US is years long in Max's circumstances, and there are no easy answers. So what can we do to help? Get the word out, and make sure that our elected officials know Max's story.
Governor Pawlenty, Senators Coleman and Kolbuchar, and all Minnesotans serving in government, you assistance is greatly appreciated.
Max is an 18 year old Iraqi man from Baghdad, he has been working for the coalition forces as an interpreter since he was 16 years old, first with the Marines, and for the past year with Bravo company. Max appears in several pictures I took on yesterday's patrol, in every picture his face is covered to protect his identity, and we take extreme care to make sure we don't do anything that might reveal his identity.
He has been in combat almost daily for 17 months. He wears the same uniform and carries the same weapons as our soldiers, but he has no formal military training. He has been IED'd multiple times, and holds his own in every fire fight. There is no doubt that if he were to return to Baghdad today he would be killed, and so he has no choice but to keep doing what he is doing.
Max's father is unemployed, and he and Max's mother and two brothers live in a dangerous part of Baghdad (they all are I guess). Max sends most of the $1,000 dollars he earns each month home to support his family.
Captain Chip Rankin, the Bravo Company commander, is launching a full force campaign to bring Max home to the US with Bravo Company. There are 8 interpreters with Bravo Company, but only one Max, he has given a great deal, essentially given up the rest of his life in Iraq to support his family, and he is still one of the most cheerful, charming, exceptional people you have ever met.
Max's ambitions are modest. He would like to finish high school, and then maybe join the US Military. The military is the only thing he knows, and so I think his eyes may open to broader options when he gets to US, and sees that there is more to life than war.
Unfortunately the official waiting list to get Max to the US is years long in Max's circumstances, and there are no easy answers. So what can we do to help? Get the word out, and make sure that our elected officials know Max's story.
Governor Pawlenty, Senators Coleman and Kolbuchar, and all Minnesotans serving in government, you assistance is greatly appreciated.
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