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An elusive war – December and January in Afghanistan
In the history of embeds, this one has been pretty unremarkable so far. I kicked things off in Dubai with an impulse purchase of a Canon 5D Mark II. Stills and video ! ASA 6400 ! 20 MB files ! It seemed like a great idea until I dropped it in the mud on a patrol. So much for the resale value.
After getting to Bagram Air Base, it took a while until I was able to test out the new gear. We had a four-day wait due to rain, which delayed or cancelled flights and gave me plenty of time to indulge in the ice cream bar at the dining hall. On day five I got a late-night flight to Jalalabad, where I received a briefing about my embed area and made plans to get further north. Finally, a week after my embed had officially begun, I took a 20 minute ride on a Chinook helicopter and arrived to Foward Operating Base Bostick, located in Kunar Province about 10 miles from the Pakistan border.
The view from the base is stunning. Snow capped mountains to the east mark the border with Pakistan, the Kunar River runs through the valley, and at night the stars in the Milky Way seem close enough to touch. This being Christmas, there was a candle-lit church service in the chapel on the 24th, followed on Christmas Day by caroling and hot chocolate. The war seemed pretty far away.
Like a speed bump with guns – Back in Baghdad II
The embed process is not a perfect beast. You can end up stuck for days waiting for a patrol, get placed with an unfriendly unit or spend a month without seeing much in the way of war. On the other hand sometimes it’s a photographers dream; lots of action, compelling images and a mountain of praise from your peers. It’s a crap shoot and the only thing you can count on is that you can’t count on anything.
My embed up to now has pretty much been a train wreck.
It started out on Dec 2 with a two-day wait for a helicopter ride up to Baquba, 50 kms north of Baghdad. I went out on one patrol, then joined AP photographer Marko Drobnjakovic and moved east to another base near Muqdadiya. As soon as we arrived we went up to the roof to check our sat phones. His worked great, mine didn’t. I’d tested the phone twice before, so this was a very unwelcome surprise and if there is one piece of equipment you really need in Iraq, it’s a good sat phone. The army had internet, but they politely declined to let me use it and the base internet cafe would not let you send attachments. So there we are, 100 kms northeast of Baghdad on a little military post, ready to get to work, but with no means to transmit. Aside from no phone, it wasn’t long before I had other problems. A big operation was planned for the day after we arrived and the press officer gave me to one unit and Marko to another. Marko’s unit kicked in doors and took prisoners, mine sat in their armored vehicle for 8 hours in what is known as a ‘blocking’ position. Like a speed bump with guns. To top it off, the lead vehicle in our convoy got hit by a roadside bomb (no casualties) and I could not get out to shoot a photo. It happened 500 meters away but it might as well have been 500 miles.
Hello Bob, you may curse your “bad luck,” but your photos of the locals are the most heartwarming documentation coming out of Iraq and Afganistan. It was your photos coming out of Afganistan at the New Year’s that caught my attention so I always knew which pictures were yours. James Nachtway must have mentored you.
Stay safe as you can and still accomplish your goals. Wonderful job you’re doing.
sincerely, Paully
Back in Baghdad; a first look
My last visit to Iraq was six months ago and as I returned to Baghdad on Saturday for a month-long embed, I wondered if anything had really changed. Sometimes it’s the little things you notice first. Like the new luggage trolleys in the airport arrivals area, or the long queue of taxis outside waiting for customers, where before there had only been a dusty bus to the main checkpoint. Or the way the security contractors getting off my flight, instead of flashing their DOD badges and strolling past immigration officials like before, now step into a special line next to the visa office and produce sheafs of documents for a thorough pre-entry governmental screening.
Route Irish, the infamously dangerous highway leading from the airport to central Baghdad, was at one time marked by almost daily suicide car bombings. Today the ride is quiet, the highway almost deserted. Instead of the circuitous route once required by road closures and checkpoint bottlenecks, we now take a more direct path and arrive quickly to Abu Nawas, a broad avenue on the banks of the Tigris River which has been recently been reopened by the government.
The riverfront was once famous for its restaurants serving grilled fish, which disappeared after the war and the area had become an inhospitable dustbowl, deserted save for few mongrel dogs and the occasional army patrol. But as we drive down the boulevard today I see a few restaurants have returned and children are playing in a freshly scrubbed park.
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My son was stationed over in Camp Lowell for the past 4 months. I tried to find informtion about Camp Lowell but, I wasn’t successful. He did send me a link from ABC News that shed a little light on the environment and living conditions. Although, my son is still in Afghanistan, he says he is in a better place and that is Bostick. I can ONLY hope he is safe nd stays that way until he comes home.