So, first of all apologies for abandoning my post here for so long. Not cool. But these are incredibly busy — and good — days at GlobalPost. Lots going on. And every day we are busy editing the work of correspondents who are out there doing great reporting in the field and living up to the central premise of “groundtruth,” which is the simple fact of being there. And often those correspondents are putting themselves in harms way to deliver for us here in Boston and we never want to forget that. So here I am rushing to finish the week and head out for a long, Memorial Day weekend and I realized I gotta stop for a minute of remembrance of my own. Yes, for all of those who’ve fallen defending the country for sure. But also for all of those journalists who’ve fallen in covering those wars, and for all those who are still out there still doing the work. We have a lot of great reporters all over the world who do work every day that is nothing short of heroic in bringing us the stories we need to know to understand what is happening on the ground. In the spirit of honoring that work , here is an email I just got from Ben Gilbert, our Lebanon correspondent, who is now on an embed in Afghanistan. Check it out:
We got into a firefight today. AK’s and RPG’s. The Afghans stopped their (Toyota) truck and ran to a dirt hill as the americans opened up with everything they had. Then they laid down mortars. Then, apaches showed up. Then, the Taliban shot at one of the apaches with an RPG. And missed. Then, they took off and probably had dinner as the Amerians hunted for them on foot until dusk. Then we hauled ass back to the COP, where at least three PFC’s were proud of the fact they would now receive their combat infantryman’s badge.
One PFC had five rounds hit the ballistic sheild on his 50 Caliber turret mounted machine gun. The truck took three other rounds on the side.
I had a front row seat, and was in the truck with the Mark 19 grenade launcher…
This is like the third contact this company has had this week — things are heating up here. The brigade had three other TICS while we were in contact. There are reports of Taliban coming in from Pakistan, and intimidating locals. The Khost-Ghardez highway is being funded with 30 million in USAID Funds, and tribal disputes have put work on hold. So, the local men have no income. Easy prey for Taliban recruits, the Americans say.
I’d like to file it for Friday or Monday, depending on what else these guys have me going out on tomorrow.
BTW — i’m on the MWR computer (eight computers in all) so I won’t have regular access to email and my phone isn’t working here.
Thanks and talk soon,
Ben
GroundTruth is written by Charles Sennott, the Executive Editor and co-founder of GlobalPost. The blog is a way for GlobalPost to let you know what our correspondents all over the world are covering every day. It is a place where Sennott highlights the best work in the field by a stellar team of correspondents . 