Posted on: Sunday, June 26, 2005
AFTER DEADLINE
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By Anne Harpham
Advertiser Senior Editor
Some 18 months ago, Advertiser staff writer William Cole and photographer Richard Ambo journeyed to Iraq and Afghanistan to cover soldiers from Schofield Barracks deployed to those two countries.
They spent three months embedded with the soldiers, living with them, traveling by convoy over difficult terrain and chronicling their mission. It was dangerous on occasion, a tough existence at all times. For our readers, it was a window into the experiences of soldiers with Hawai'i ties deep in the war zones.
As you have will have noticed from their recent stories and photos in The Advertiser, Cole and Ambo are now back in Iraq.
This time, they traveled across some 8,000 miles and 13 time zones to spend about a month in Iraq and Kuwait.
Since the war in Iraq began, there has been some controversy about the role of embedded journalists. There are legitimate questions about whether journalists embedded with troops can maintain objectivity and whether they can convey the full story about the war.
Cole and Ambo will tell you there is nothing easy about being embedded journalists. It can be dangerous and is often difficult work. They have to deal with military red tape and long, treacherous transits. They must wear body armor — weighing up to 30 pounds — when off base and live in the same conditions as the troops.
Cole and Ambo have unfettered access to troops, but their movements in the country are, of course, subject both to conditions and availability of military transport.
We don't expect that Cole and Ambo will provide our readers with either the full story or the daily breaking news from Iraq. We rely on news service reports for the ongoing, regular coverage of Iraq.
The two were eager to return. Advertiser photo editor Seth Jones, who is coordinating the coverage, said they saw this assignment as finishing up something they had started a year ago.
Last year, they reported on regular Army troops.
This trip, their focus is on citizen soldiers, the various Hawai'i Army National Guard and Army Reserve units in Iraq and Kuwait.
"They wanted to go back and tell their story," Jones said. "They saw last year how important it was to tell the story of the soldiers' mission."
Cole and Ambo spent most of last week in Camp Victory, just west of Baghdad, home base for the 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry.
They were scheduled to leave on Friday for Balad, where the 29th Support Battalion, part of a cavalry troop, the 229th Military Intelligence Company, the 100th-442nd, and a platoon of the 227th Engineer Company are at LSA Anaconda. They expect to spend three weeks there, leaving the middle of next month for Kuwait. The 1st Battalion of the 487th Field Artillery and part of the 227th Engineer Company are assigned to Kuwait Naval Base.
Cole and Ambo hope to hook up with all of the major Guard and Reserve units from Hawai'i in Iraq and Kuwait. They were in touch with many of those troops via e-mail even before their departure.
While satellite technology enables speedy transmission of stories and photos from Iraq, communication between our newsroom and Cole and Ambo is a little sketchier than we are used to in this connected age.
They check in daily with Jones, usually fairly early in our day but late in the evening for them. They call us via a satellite phone they took with them, but we cannot call them. They use a separate satellite phone system to transmit their stories and photos.
We know that friends and families of those serving overseas are anxious for news from the front lines. Cole and Ambo hope to fulfill that mission. Look for more of their coverage over the next few weeks.
Senior editor Anne Harpham is The Advertiser's reader representative. Reach her at aharpham@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8033.
