Right now I am sitting in a tent in Herat typing on my laptop while three Italian soldier talk in the background. It’s late and all three are in their sleeping bags on their cots. Their conversation is stereotypical Italian full of male bravado like a scene straight out of “The Godfather.” Too funny! I can only image what they are saying about the lone American who is typing away.
This week’s travels have given me a very good feeling of what it’s like to be the Secretary of State. In the past three days I have had discussions with the Germans, Dutch, British, Spanish and Italians. I’m trying to offer each nation the public affairs support of the United States in telling the world, “their story.”
Currently, my team is a centrally located reactionary force deploying to the scene where news breaks. But because of the size of this country and the poor transportation system, we often get there a day or two after the story is over. That’s why I am visiting each RC. I want to permanently embed a crew in each regional command. This will give us better imagery and a much quicker response time. So far, so good with every regional public affairs officer open to my offer.
Now that I have everyone’s permission, it’s back to Kabul to try and sell my boss on the idea. I think he’ll approve, but what about my team? How will they react to me wanting to send them from the safety of Kabul to the frontlines in the war on terror? Only time will tell.
This week’s travels have given me a very good feeling of what it’s like to be the Secretary of State. In the past three days I have had discussions with the Germans, Dutch, British, Spanish and Italians. I’m trying to offer each nation the public affairs support of the United States in telling the world, “their story.”
Currently, my team is a centrally located reactionary force deploying to the scene where news breaks. But because of the size of this country and the poor transportation system, we often get there a day or two after the story is over. That’s why I am visiting each RC. I want to permanently embed a crew in each regional command. This will give us better imagery and a much quicker response time. So far, so good with every regional public affairs officer open to my offer.
Now that I have everyone’s permission, it’s back to Kabul to try and sell my boss on the idea. I think he’ll approve, but what about my team? How will they react to me wanting to send them from the safety of Kabul to the frontlines in the war on terror? Only time will tell.
2 comments:
I think they'll be fine. They know what they are here for. :) And they know you're not sending them needlessly...a purpose greater than ourselves, right...
You should be used to missing the story. We were always the last on the scene at channel 24.
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