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Time to once again open my life up a little in order to share the plethora of wealth I'm about to absorb. I'm going to be back in Iraq through September, so hop on board and check back every couple of days, I'll do my best to update as much as possible. Questions? dtate38@cox.net And check out the site I'm working with: http://www.billroggio.com Support independent journalism!
Friday, July 30, 2004
What is really awesome about returning to Afghanistan, is that after three months, I have built a nice network of people to help me with my job. One of the best contacts I could have made is with Major Eric Bloom. Eric is from Oklahoma and has been in the Guard sometime. His unit (45th ID) is directly responsible for training the Afghan National Army.
Currently, the U.S. military has pretty much tied the hands of most journalists here. They have 8 soldiers assigned to escort media on infrequent one week trips into the field. Most of the time the wait is at least a month and it is nearly impossible for you to go where you'd like to go. In other words: They control what most of what comes out of Afghanistan.
This obviously poses a problem for journalists like me who are based in the country full time with the sole mission of providing western media outlets (CBS, NBC, Sky, etc...) with fresh video of the War on Terror/Afghanistan.
Fortunately, I have found a way around this problem and will soon be using it to my advantage. The solution is to work with the Afghan National Army (ANA). This is a huge deal in many ways. First, I will be capturing the birth of this army from the ground up, it will be saved to video and become part of the history of this war. Second, the ANA always works with convential U.S. as well as Special Ops troops. This is huge for me because this allows me to get around the noose that the army currently has on journalists collectively. Even better, when I return to Afghanistan in a week or so, I will become the first ever journalist to embedd with the ANA.
===================================================
Dave,
How would you like to be the first reporter to truly be embedded with the ANA?I talked with the ANA PAO and they would like to do an embed. It would be a first for them and I would be doing some training with them to show them how to coordinate with coalition (CPIC). I would make sure that the coalition forces would know that you would be with the ANA since they are usually attached to coalition forces. The kicker is that you would be under their care...
Major Eric BloomCoalition
Joint Task Force Phoenix-J5
====================================================
Eric,
That's an idea. That could be any interesting point of view. Gotta be somewhere active, though. Like Zabol or Paktika or something. I take Thursday's off!Heh!
If reinforcements are heading to Ghor anytime... I'd be interested in that as well.
Dave
===================================================
The ANA already has plenty of troops in that area. But we do resupply everyfew weeks.
Major Eric Bloom
Coalition Joint Task Force Phoenix-J5
===================================================
Dave,
I should be able to get you into Herat with the 2nd BDE and they have 2kandaks in the area. You would be able to move around from unit to unit inthe west. If Herat is fine with you I'll start to work on the coordination to see how soon I could get you out there around the 15th.
Major Eric Bloom
Coalition Joint Task Force Phoenix-J5
===================================================
What would be ideal is if I could spend a week in Zabol, then head west? What do you think? I have to do a story on Operation Lightning Resolve or whatever it is. I need pics from Zabol.
Dave
Currently, the U.S. military has pretty much tied the hands of most journalists here. They have 8 soldiers assigned to escort media on infrequent one week trips into the field. Most of the time the wait is at least a month and it is nearly impossible for you to go where you'd like to go. In other words: They control what most of what comes out of Afghanistan.
This obviously poses a problem for journalists like me who are based in the country full time with the sole mission of providing western media outlets (CBS, NBC, Sky, etc...) with fresh video of the War on Terror/Afghanistan.
Fortunately, I have found a way around this problem and will soon be using it to my advantage. The solution is to work with the Afghan National Army (ANA). This is a huge deal in many ways. First, I will be capturing the birth of this army from the ground up, it will be saved to video and become part of the history of this war. Second, the ANA always works with convential U.S. as well as Special Ops troops. This is huge for me because this allows me to get around the noose that the army currently has on journalists collectively. Even better, when I return to Afghanistan in a week or so, I will become the first ever journalist to embedd with the ANA.
===================================================
Dave,
How would you like to be the first reporter to truly be embedded with the ANA?I talked with the ANA PAO and they would like to do an embed. It would be a first for them and I would be doing some training with them to show them how to coordinate with coalition (CPIC). I would make sure that the coalition forces would know that you would be with the ANA since they are usually attached to coalition forces. The kicker is that you would be under their care...
Major Eric BloomCoalition
Joint Task Force Phoenix-J5
====================================================
Eric,
That's an idea. That could be any interesting point of view. Gotta be somewhere active, though. Like Zabol or Paktika or something. I take Thursday's off!Heh!
If reinforcements are heading to Ghor anytime... I'd be interested in that as well.
Dave
===================================================
The ANA already has plenty of troops in that area. But we do resupply everyfew weeks.
Major Eric Bloom
Coalition Joint Task Force Phoenix-J5
===================================================
Dave,
I should be able to get you into Herat with the 2nd BDE and they have 2kandaks in the area. You would be able to move around from unit to unit inthe west. If Herat is fine with you I'll start to work on the coordination to see how soon I could get you out there around the 15th.
Major Eric Bloom
Coalition Joint Task Force Phoenix-J5
===================================================
What would be ideal is if I could spend a week in Zabol, then head west? What do you think? I have to do a story on Operation Lightning Resolve or whatever it is. I need pics from Zabol.
Dave
