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Back to Iraq

Sep- 3-2006 » Filed Under: 172nd SBCT

Daily News-Miner reporter Margaret Friedenauer will return to Iraq to cover the 172nd SBCT during its extended deployment.

Link to Full Article

The deployment of our Fort Wainwright-based 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team to Iraq last year struck a chord through our community, bringing us all closer to the conflict and reminding us of ties to the base we sometimes may take for granted.

Two people, in particular, made a difference for this newspaper and its readers.

Col. Michael Shields, commander of the brigade, first came to Fairbanks after spending time in Afghanistan, where he witnessed soldiers struggling with media questions and access issues and unsure how to handle the free press. He wanted Stryker soldiers trained to work with the media and wisely stretched out a hand to the journalism program at University of Alaska Fairbanks and to the News-Miner.

The results were mutually beneficial as students and News-Miner journalists were introduced to military issues and learned the obstacles they might face in trying to cover a combat theater. Likewise, soldiers learned some do’s and don’ts.

Then comes the second person.

Reporter Margaret Friedenauer saw the story potential in embedding with local troops overseas to tell their stories for the people back home. She made her pitch as the 172nd was deployed and talked her bosses into the idea of spending the holidays in Mosul with the soldiers.

Her six weeks there in December 2005 and January 2006 were successful. Our community and readers, by and large, praised her stories and photos. The Web site drew so much traffic that computer techs here had to quickly put the site on a server of its own because the traffic was slowing down the company’s entire network.

She came home having learned a great deal and saying she wished she could return and have another go at it.


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