In this corner … your, um, war correspondents?
Four reporters and a public affairs officer flew to Afghanistan.
That might sound like the start to a bad joke. Truth is, it has been a little funny.
I’m on a media familiarization visit to Afghanistan, sponsored by the Department of National Defence.
Kingston Whig-Standard military beat reporter Ian Elliot, Damian Brooks, who runs a military website called The Torch, Journal de Montreal political pundit Jean LaRoche and Yours Truly are proving to be quite an interesting combo.
Elliot is elusive in a Pokeroo kind of way. He asks smart, tough questions and smokes a lot.
Brooks is the biggest talker in the gang. His shaved head is better than Mr. Clean’s and I swear he can spout the entire military alphabet.
LaRoche is a pretty quiet guy, the humble type. He’s a Habs fan. That’s unfortunate.
Lieut-Commander Pierre Babinsky, a public affairs guru with nearly 30 years military experience, guides our way. He’s an awesome wealth of knowledge. He smokes a lot too.
Me? I’m the young gun whose job is to cover sports for The Barrie Examiner. Still not quite sure how I ended up here, but I’m thankful I did.
The media gang is together nearly 24/7 on this trip. Sharing rooms, sharing breakfast, sharing information, and, generally, having a lot of fun.
While we might not agree on everything — Go Leafs Go, eh Jean? — we all agree this experience of covering Canada’s mission in Afghanistan has been a true eye-opener like nothing else we could have imagined.
I’ve been filing stories daily, but I won’t have the time to compile the big story properly until I get back home. It’s a story that deserves time, something we haven’t had much of throughout the duration of the trip.
I am, however, looking forward to diving in ASAP.
Until then.
