"Lions and tigers and bears..."

Hello! Thank you for visiting my blog. To those of you I haven't kept in touch with since leaving the states, please forgive me. It's been a crazy several weeks. I'd planned to do this from the beginning, but have been delayed by the hectic pace of training, traveling and getting settled in Baghdad.

So I will bring the whole wild ride up to date and then begin regular updates on my experiences in the International Zone (the I-Z). There's just one rule and you must agree to follow it. For those of you that may have contact with my wife, you cannot discuss with her this blog or the things you read here. I have nothing to hide, but there have been many events that I don't want her to know about until after this is over. She is already worried enough. There's no reason to emotionally exhaust her with the details.

I am still a newbie in a dangerous place where many people have spent years learning to live, while serving in the fight for safety and democracy for the Iraqi people. But I am looking for The Wizard. I'll let you know if I find him.

First, a brief history on how I got here. I've been a News Producer since graduating college. After 15+ years following my career path in TV across country and back, I'd become fully disenchanted with what I feel is the rudderless ship of journalism. Do not get me wrong, this is not a single station or management issue. It's an industry-wide epidemic. I do not take my time or success in TV News for granted. I was very fortunate. But it's pretty simple really. A shrinking body of viewers are forcing media outlets to reach to the lowest depths of content to keep people watching. The viewers that understand what news is and why we're there are turning us off because we are catering to the growing majority who are more interested in Anna's Baby's Daddy and Britney's Breakdown. There is more to it for me personally, but I'll leave it at that basic description. The way I explain it to people who aren't familiar with the TV industry....15-20 years ago you had shows such as Current Affair and Inside Edition trying to model themselves as "newscasts." Now you have newscasts trying to model themselves as Inside Edition and Current Affair. After a few years in the biz, I began to often feel pressured to toss aside my pride and journalistic integrity that I'd worked so hard to grow and maintain. With that said, I have been able to work in TV News with some of the greatest people in the biz. Good hearts, great minds, a HELL of a lot of fun and a true sense of what Journalism really should be. I thank you all for the experience.

One day not so long ago I was sitting at my desk in a busy, noisy newsroom getting ready for another morning meeting where we spend an hour or more making news coverage decisions that will be second-guessed for the rest of the day or simply tossed aside at the last possible moment. In an instant my life changed. A lightning strike of fate. An email hit my inbox from someone who'd become a trusted friend in the past year. His message was characteristically short. I've rarely gotten an email from him that was more than a few sentences, but they always have a wise and direct clarity.


This one said simply "Up for an adventure?"

It was a surreal moment, like when Neo is told "follow the white rabbit."

Attached to the email was a job listing for a position at the US Embassy Baghdad. A job I was perfect for. At first, I made jokes. It seemed almost insane to think about. Leave my cushy life in sunny Florida, my beautiful wife and daughter, my big house, my Jag and come to a war zone. A war zone which is not exactly working in our favor and where every American, military or not, is a potential target.

Then I took some time to think about it...really think about it. A wild fantasy of giving up the industry I'd come to loathe and leaving it all to go and witness history. I realized if I didn't at least try to get the job I'd always regret not having made the effort. The odds of another opportunity like this coming up for me were pretty much zero. Of course I never actually thought I'd get the job. I figured hell it's the government...surely they already have someone in place to fill this slot and the job posting was just a courtesy. I was wrong. After 2 weeks and 3 phone interviews, they wanted me.

So my choices were to stay knee deep in the nonsense or give it all up. After 2 months here on the ground, I know I made the right choice.

It all happened very fast. I got the thumbs up mid-December and by mid-January I'd put my life in the real world on hold and I was in Washington for the training you have to take before you come over. It's called DSAC ('d-sack' - Diplomatic Security Antiterrorism Course). A lot of it was boring crap, but we also got to shoot guns, blow s#!t up and learn surveillance and attack tactics. Then it was off from DC on a 13-hour flight to Kuwait. I was traveling with two other guys that work for the same company.


We spent 3 days at Ali Al Salem Air Base just outside Kuwait city. We had a tent with bunks and the food was good, but there was not much to do here. You can only play so much pool and ping pong. Had a big scare in the chow hall (DFAC 'd-fak' - for Dining Facility) one night. CNN was on the large LCD TV's on the wall and they suddenly cut to Breaking News.

"Tornadoes Hit Central Florida"


Here I am sitting halfway around the world watching one of the bureau chiefs from my old station reporting from the middle of a disaster scene. My first thought was "Holy S#!T Claire frikkin Metz!" Then I realized the area they were showing on the map was where our house is... where my wife and daughter are. The lump in my throat felt like I'd swallowed a golf ball. I ran to the phone. Thankfully they were fine, the tornadoes had past just north and just south of our house. Hundreds of other people were not so lucky.



After our stay in Kuwait we had a very uncomfortable flight into
Baghdad on a C-130 cargo plane. It was just like you see in the movies, a big metal shell with canvas net seats. No drinks, no food service and no sleep.

From Baghdad International Airport (BIAP 'by-op' - EVERYTHING has a damn acronym in government work) into the IZ it was a roller coaster like helicopter ride on a crowded Blackhawk. They fly fast, low and with the big guns locked and loaded.

Please be sure to add my blog to your favorites and check back often for updates. Feel free to post comments. You can click on the photos for larger versions of my pictures.

Next up...We jump off the chopper and my first step into the IZ reveals my biggest fear.

Tinman

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