Category: Iraq

Home Again

I’m home. In fact, I’ve been home for a week, but it took a week for my life to get settled down enough for me to sit down and time to write for pleasure. My trip to Peru was amazing; I can’t wait to go back, and I can’t wait to tell everyone about it. I’ve been talking about it nonstop ever since my flight touched down in Boston, and everyone I talk to wants to see pictures (or at least they say they do…).

I want more than to look at pictures; I want to relive the moments: summiting 17,782 foot Urus East with my wife; climbing to the top of Ishinca (18,143 feet) and sitting on the knife-edge ridge with my climbing partner Scott; bailing of Ranrapalca (20,216 feet) after watching three major rock fall/avalanche events and reaching the Southwest Ridge way later than planned. Those are memories I’ll never forget, but it’s back to work now. And I don’t believe I’ve had a busier month.

We did have challenges. For one thing, don’t ever fly Spirit Air, unless you’re taking a very short trip. We rode Peruvian buses with more amenities. And one member of the expedition got sick for almost the entire trip. She went from pharmacy to doctor to hospital but was never able to figure out what was wrong. She was a trooper, however, and never really slowed down, despite being at 15,000 feet and not having eaten in a week.

I missed a lot while I was gone. I knew I would. Summer is ending, September is starting, and I’m still trying to find my bearings. In Berlin, political season has been ramping up and it’s getting down to the wire on the biomass projects. Lots going on. But I’m still catching up.

I’ve got a couple extracurricular North Country projects lined up, one for the New Hampshire Charitable Fund and one for the New Hampshire Grand Initiative. I’m also enrolled in WMCC’s Leadership North program, and taking a couple classes at Plymouth State University. Plus I’ve got a city to cover…

I’m still waiting to hear from United States Forces—Iraq about embedding with troops there. We’ll see how that goes. Lots going on, almost more than I can handle. But that’s what keeps life interesting.

OK, I’m back, I posted a few photos, and now it’s time to get to work. It’s a short week this week, with the Labor Day holiday, and because of my disorientation I’ll need all the time I can get to fill the paper. It’s time to get to it!

Down South

Well, today I went to 14,000 feet to get used to the altitude, and for my trouble I got a splitting headache. Tomorrow we are headed to a nearby rock climbing are to test our climbing skills at altitude, and then we’ll head east to begin our adventure in earnest.
I have to admit, walking around here, climbing seems like a frivolous thing to be writing about. I’m happy to do it, but the poverty, the inequity and the ecological degradation seem more pertinent.
But the market for such stories is limited. Stories about leisure and travel sell, stories about poor people in developing countries don’t.
I’m really interested in this opportunity in Iraq, and I am hoping to maybe leverage that experience into more of that type of work–international reporting of consequence. I get to do that kind of work at the Reporter, from time to time breaking truly important stories. I’d like to do that more places.
Regardless, I’ve got an interesting story here, and it’s great experience. I’ve been able to get a few of the photos I need, but as we are just getting into the mountains I’ve got a lot more to get. Mostly I’ve just got to have a great time so I have something positive and upbeat to write about. That shouldn’t be too hard, as long as I don’t ascend 14,000 feet in two days again.

Packed…

My two bags are packed to the limit, and I still don’t have a place for my cameras. I’ve got ice tools, crampons, a tent and sleeping bag, ropes, a harness, and all sorts of other gear.  I’ve still got to add socks and flip-flops to the mix, but mostly I’m there.

This is a project that might make me a couple thousand dollars, in addition to providing me with a great vacation. Working at the paper is a good job, but it isn’t lucrative enough to convince me to give up other opportunities. I’ve got to chase them just to make it all come together.

In many ways I’m like Berlin: I’ve got to diversify. My staple industry just doesn’t pay the bills the way I’d like it to, so now I’ve got to figure out how to spread myself around to make that work.

I just finished a video project for a nonprofit client, making three short videos aimed at their various demographics. (These are the rough cuts. I just burned the final DVD today, but I’m not going upload updated clips to YouTube before we leave tomorrow.)

These are another example of what working in the modern media landscape means. It pays to have multiple skills, because as newspapers change they are edging out the promise of a secure profession. Having a bit of photo, video and audio skills, plus some design experience and website development, really helps. It makes it possible to live in the most seemingly impossible places, like northern New Hampshire.

I’ll be chasing after another branch of my diversification in the coming weeks, and then again when I head to Iraq (hopefully) this fall. And piecing it all together, if I can make it happen, should be quite rewarding.

It’s like reviving your economy with a prison or two, a biomass plant, a resurgent paper mill and some tourism dollars—not the same as the old model, but it can work if it’s the right combination.

So while my packs are almost packed, in some ways it’s my schedule that’s even more packed. At least every piece is baggage I’m excited to carry.

The Real Thing

Someone posted this as an example of excellent coverage of the Afghanistan war. A brief warning: it’s not for the feint of heart.

This is more combat than I have any real desire to be in, but it illustrates a point I made earlier—more information is better. It’s a hard look at the reality the United States and its partners face around Afghanistan, where today the New York Times reported three U.S. soldiers were killed.

It’s interesting the limited capacity for war the American people have, particularly with two simultaneous conflicts going on. When Iraq was melting into sectarian violence no one asked about Afghanistan. Now it’s Afghanistan, formerly America’s “Forgotten War,” that is erupting into violence. The techniques—improvised explosive devices and suicide bombs—have been imported from Iraq, as have the casualties, which just climbed above 2,000.

This type of reporting is invaluable. It connects the viewer at home with the soldier on the field. U.S. and British citizens (the Guardian is a U.K. paper) can begin to understand what the war in Afghanistan looks like, and they can decide what level of importance they should place on foreign policy when they go to the voting booth.

Will it hurt or help the war effort? I’m not sure. No one wants to see young American soldiers die, but it’s more a matter of your view of the threats posed by a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan. Would it lead to more terrorist attacks, and is the current strategy affecting it? Those questions aren’t answered by the reporter in the field. They are hopefully addressed by reporters back home consulting with specialists and experts. But the reporter in the field gives context. They make it clear just what those decisions mean, on the ground, for one soldier and one family. They aren’t policies in a vacuum, and it takes people broadcasting or filing from the field to make the true impacts clear.

I’m still waiting to find out if that’s something I’ll be doing, but regardless I think it’s important when someone does it well, from a perspective rarely seen, to share it. This video is intimidating, but it brings reality home.

Time to Wait

So on Monday night, after council and typing up my story, I pulled together the last parts of my application to the international coalition that oversees reporter embeds in Iraq, and I sent it in.

I sent an application in, along with samples of my work, a copy of my passport, a head shot, and a letter from NHPR saying they were sponsoring me. Now I wait to hear back.

It’s a crazy idea, right? Going to a war zone is something of a tradition for reporters, but it doesn’t make it smart. If I go I’ve got to get body armor, so I’ve been shopping around for armor piercing plates and accessories to keep me safe. It’s a little disconcerting to see how many places you can still get shot, but some other reporters assured me things were settled in Iraq.

I’m hoping to embed with the 94th Military Police Company, a reserve unit out of Londonderry. I’m no soldier, and I have no real desire to see war, but the impact media can have on foreign policy and conflict is huge, and I think it’s important people hear what is happening.

Mostly I want to tell New Hampshire residents what their soldiers are doing in Iraq. The war has been winding down there for some time, and most media are focused on Afghanistan. But New Hampshire has a company of soldiers in Iraq, and their service shouldn’t be forgotten.

It’s a little difficult to wrap my head around, what it’ll be like, but it’ll certainly be an adventure. I spoke to a friend who spent 15 months in Iraq as an officer in the army, and he told me he could write a book about his experiences. As a New Hampshire resident and a non-military household, I don’t have frequent reminders about the conflict, or that people are still filling books with bad experiences. As members of a democratic nation, that’s a luxury I shouldn’t be allowed. Our votes affect these decisions and policies, and we shouldn’t make them uninformed.

Granted, my little excursion, should it happen, won’t likely shift voters in one direction or another. Nor should it. But it may add to their knowledge about what their fellow citizens are doing, and when joined with the rest of the reporting from the region create a little bit more complete picture. No reporter is “the media,” but hopefully collectively we can pull together enough vignettes to help people make informed decisions about governance. That’s why the press is protected by they first amendment.

And I get to do it in Berlin, on one scale. Reporting for NHPR is doing the same thing, on another scale. It gets interesting, however, when it’s national and international issues you’re talking about.

So I got an email back from the USF–I (U.S. Forces – Iraq) today, saying they received my application and will get back to me soon. I’m heading to Peru in less than a week to climb mountains, so hopefully they’ll let me know before I go. Then I’ve got to secure a flak jacket and helmet and figure out to fly to Kuwait. It’s an interesting proposition, being a reporter, but I can’t complain it ever gets boring.