Stryker Brigade News

SBN: How different were the living conditions from when you first got there, to when you left?

MG: When I first got there, back in April 2003, the living conditions were austere. We slept on cots that we'd set up next to our vehicles at night, and the chow was strictly MREs. It took a couple weeks before we had a makeshift shower up and running. We had generators for electricity so the soldiers could get their coffeemakers going in the morning. When we arrived at the Mosul Airfield we had to mow down the tall weeds and grass to set up an area for our camp. The latrine was where you found it, at least at first. Gradually, though, things got better and better. Tents. Air-conditioners. A field kitchen.

On my second trip, it was a little bit like that when the brigade first moved up to Samarra. We lived in tents and ate MREs, at least at first. You might have read in my stories that soldiers scrounged plywood to put in floors in their tents. This was December, so there was lots of rain and mud was a real problem. We had port-a-johns. It took a long time for all the tents to get electricity, and even at that most folks only had enough to have some lights. It was pretty crappy, to tell you the truth. There were mice, and not a cat to be seen for miles.

Things couldn't have been more different when we got to Mosul. One- and two-person containers with heaters (remember, it was still January). KBR dining facilities. Internet cafes. Hot showers whenever. Porcelain. By the time I left they'd set up a nice new gym, they were building a PX at the palace to go along with the ones at the airfield and at Camp Marez.

I tell people now that aside from the heat, for the most part the hardship of serving in Iraq is emotional and psychological, not physical.

SBN: Why did you want to take on a dangerous assignment like this and what was the reaction of your family when you told them you were going to Iraq?

MG: I'd been writing about the brigade for the better part of three years and I'd always assumed that when they were ready and deployed, I would go along and cover their work. Then the war came, and instead of going to JRTC to cover their last big trainup, I went to Iraq with the 62nd Medical Brigade from Fort Lewis. I went then because for a reporter who covers the military, it was THE story, and the local troops that I covered were going to be part of it. To be honest I did not think much about the danger; I had been out in the field many times to cover training and I felt like I would be OK.

The second time I had to think more about why I wanted to go. Ultimately it was for similar reasons. It was where the story was. But I also felt very strongly that as an American citizen, with a role to play in our open society, it was my obligation to follow the soldiers and write about what they were doing. I don't believe it's right for us to just send them over there and wish them well, and then forget about them. I feel a little bit guilty that I'm not still there.

People ask me all the time if I volunteered to go, and the answer of course is yes. But it's hard to explain that I kind of mean yes with an asterisk. I didn't HAVE to go, but I felt like I had to go, if that makes any sense.

As for my family, well, as you can imagine this was a very difficult thing for them. But they supported me entirely. They knew why I felt like I had to go. Still it was very hard for them. We had to cry together a few times and then get on with it. I know it meant a lot to them to see all the e-mails that folks sent while I was gone - it helped my kids, especially, to understand that what I was doing meant something to other people.

I don't know how they held up as well as they did, and frankly I don't know how you all do it too.

SBN: What area in the States does the Mosul area remind you of?

MG: Northern Iraq in general reminds me of Eastern Washington. It's all rolling farmland with wheat and barley. Farther south, from the times I convoyed through, reminds me more of Southern Arizona. I used to deliver ice to Indian reservations all across the extreme south of Arizona, and that's kind of what it's like. Villages spread out all over the place, narrow two-lane roads, lots of nothing.

Convoying through Baghdad reminded me of San Jose, Calif., or maybe Phoenix, with all its freeway interchanges and cars and traffic.

As far as Mosul itself, it was more European than American in the way it was laid out and the feel of the place. I've spent nearly all my life in the Western U.S., and we just don't have cities out here that go back 3,000 years.

SBN: Are you still in contact with any of the soldiers from the Stryker Brigade? If so, has their viewpoint/mind-set changed since their arrival in country now that they have reached the 6 mth mark?

MG: I stay in touch with several soldiers. I believe their mindset had changed a great deal by the time I left in March from when we all first arrived in November. When we first got there, for most of them, their general reference points revolved around their training experiences at NTC and JRTC. After Samarra, and then after a little bit of time in Mosul, I didn't hear very many guys making references to the training rotations. All their points of reference were based on their real combat experiences. As for how they're feeling at the six-month mark, I don't think I have corresponded with enough soldiers to be able to generalize about that. I suspect they are all glad to have put that much time behind them and looking forward to getting through the rest of the deployment.

SBN: There have been a lot of strong opinions about reporters being embedded with our troops, especially when the war first began. I think that a lot of people were afraid that the additional task of looking out for civilian reporters who were not as trained or self-sufficient as they were would distract the soldiers from what they were there to accomplish, as well as make it more difficult for them to protect themselves and their fellow soldiers. How do you feel about that? Do you think that, at least in some cases, civilians embedded with troops could serve as "excess baggage" for our soldiers?

MG: I don't know. I think a lot of that feeling is driven by peoples' perceptions of the news media. If you tend to think that news reporters are a bunch of useless slobs, then you'll be of the opinion that they were in the way and endangering soldiers' lives. Obviously I do not share that opinion.

I can't speak for the TV guys, because I just don't know enough about how they work. But I can tell you that in my view, most of the print guys who went did so for the same reasons I did - because they believed it was their job to go and tell the story. They were professional.

I know I tried to be as unobtrusive as possible, to blend in as much as I could. I don't believe I was ever a burden on anyone. Many soldiers told me they were glad I was along for the trip.

SBN: Did the responsibility of knowing that you were the primary source of information for Stryker families back home affect your reporting at all?

MG: It weighed on me, that's for sure. I knew that there were thousands of people back home who were hanging on every word. But I knew I had a wider audience than the Stryker families and that my job was to report the news, even if it meant there would be hard things. There were a few times where I braced myself in expectation of angry e-mails from folks with loved ones in the brigade, but that never really materialized. Instead I would get notes from folks who said they appreciated the coverage, even when it was bad news.

SBN: Did you develop any long-term friendships while you were there? If so, did you find it difficult to distance yourself from your subject at times? (I guess this is basically a question about the embed program and its effect on journalistic independence.)

MG: I met many people who I will remember with great respect and admiration for the rest of my life, and I imagine in some cases we will probably continue to stay in touch. That's been true of the folks I got to know with the 62nd Medical Brigade.

In principle, an embedded reporter who makes friends with the troops he's covering would be tempted not to report news that would make his buddies look bad. I did not hold back from reporting things that might've made the brigade look bad, but I did my best to give the brigade every opportunity to explain what happened, and I tried to frame the information in the context of the situation in Iraq.

Most of the folks I lived and worked with knew my role - that of an independent journalist. And though we shared good times as friends would, there always had to be a distance between us as long as I was in that role. It's human nature to bond with the people you live and work with, which I certainly did. But still there was always that distance, so in that respect it was sometimes a very lonely job.