Deployed For The Holidays

I want to thank all of the brave men and women who won't be home for the holidays. Your service is admirable. May where ever you end up celebrating the holidays this year be safe. If you happen to be at the International Zone. Stop by and tell Mr. Lee "hello" for me. I've spent two Thanksgivings with him. (Manager Int. Zone DFAC) For those of you who haven't deployed over the holidays...or know of someone who has...there is some good news. Besides the less than desirable location...DFACS (Dinning Facilities) across the land really go above and beyond to make it fun. Here is a video from a fellow FJI co-worker from last Thanksgiving:

Check out my Easter blog from several years back to see how they celebrate Easter in Iraq. The picture on the bottom is funny and disturbing at the same time.

I also want to say a special "Happy Holidays" to my co-worker who just left for my home away from home. He will be gone over several big holidays. Feel free to contact me if you'd like to contact Jeremy directly.

You can also see and hear the stories of other brave men and women on Faces of Freedom.

Good Bye Yellowbrick Stache?

(Friend, Adolph, Me, Stu)

Today was my last day of work at AFN Iraq. I will miss this place, but not the mustache. Over the past six months I've made some good friends, worked some long hours and have grown as a person. Over the past month I've also grown something on my top lip. Here are some pictures I took with others who have also let their war whiskers roam.

(Ron, Me, Chief)


(Erich and Me)


(Joe and Me)


(Dirty R and Me)


(Bob and Me)


(Chad and Me)


(Tony and Me)


(RDML Fox-Former MNF-I Spokesman and Me)

We're not the only one's growing our mustaches out for a good cause. I stumbled upon these teachers in Valencia who are growing their staches to raise money and awareness for writing and literature for school aged kids.

I will shave my mustache as soon as I land in Qatar. Do you remember what I looked like before I grew a mustache????? I was so young looking:










I'll be home soon!

Mustache Update As Promised

This week my wife called me and told me my daughter cried and locked herself in the bathroom when she heard I had a mustache. She asked that I shave it off before I come home. OHHH THAT WILL HAPPEN. This thing which now calls my top lip home is horrible. It is very difficult for me. I guess the whole purpose of War Whiskers is all about it not being easy. It is not easy for the people of Iraq to come to terms and take the appropriate actions to become a thriving nation. Much like it is very difficult for me to live with this thing! It makes a horrible crunching noise when I drink water. Its grown to the point where it catches the corner of my eye. I always think there is some kind of bug on my lip. Besides that, it always scares me when I catch a glance of it in a mirror. With that said, my co-worker and currently the one I hold ultimately responsible for my new look, which kind of reminds me of my dad...brought it to my attention, we (Freedom Journal Iraq) might be the most mustached news team EVER. 7 out of 8 of us are rocking the War Whiskers. (Poor Timmy is too young to grow a mustache! We love him anyway.)
Here are some pics we took today.

What Will I Miss? What Won't I Miss?

I'm about two weeks out from returning back to my wife and kids. My first weekend home has already been booked out to playing with the kids, quite time with my wife, and NFL Sunday...actually on Sunday. Complete with Margaritas, salsa verde, and chips. The following is a list of things I'll miss and not miss after I leave:

What will I miss:
1) Seeing the Al Rasheed everyday on the way to work. The events that happened in that building have changed me forever.
2) BACON! As little or as much as I want.
3) A sense of duty and accomplishment.
4) A routine that rarely changes.
5) The smell of eucalyptus trees.
6) Working with my new VO friends. (I will keep in touch!)

What I won't miss:
1) BACON! As little or as much as I want.
2) Any sort of meat product in mass quantities.
3) MY MUSTACHE!
4) Carrying a weapon 24/7.
5) A routine that rarely changes.
6) Seeing the Al Radheed. It often brings tears to my eyes.
7) DIRT EVERYWHERE! Did you know I'm allergic to dust?
8) Salt stains because I sweat too much.
9) Doing laundry at 5AM in the same place nasty dudes do.
10) BEING AWAY FROM MY FAMILY. I MISS THEM A LOT!

fyi. Mustache update coming soon. It is really starting to grow in. Don't forget to vote...even if I spelled "Awful" wrong.

Decisions Part 2- The Worse

My grandpa once told me everyday I'd have dozens of decisions to make. He told me decisions were easy to make...but the consequences of my decisions could be tough to bear. Well a month ago, I made the worse decision of my life!

In an attempt to build the broadcasters I work with into a fine tuned team, I bet them they couldn't achieve what seemed to be an impossible goal. By now I hope you've read my blog, my co-worker's blog!, and the Air Force Times! Some of you may have even clicked over to the Multi-National Force Iraq website to see me on TV...plus catch up on all the progress Coalition Forces are making throughout Iraq! I want to thank my friends and family who sent some real nice words:

Mom "I've watched the news three times, I don't see a mustache!"
Lindsey "Mustaches are creepy!"
I will stop there...because today I have proof for all of you. More importantly, proof of the sage advice that lead this blog...THE CONSEQUENCES OF SOME DECISIONS COULD BE TOUGH TO BEAR!!!


Here is my co-workers latest War Whiskers updated picture:

I've Lost A Bet...Or Have I???

It all started about two and a half months ago when I moved from radio into the news department. My colleague...friend...my #2 authored this blog! If you decide not to click the link, here is a quick excerpt:

So, me and some of the guys here are letting our lustrous lip locks grow out over the course of our deployment. As you can see, this is quite a monumental task for some. And it is not for the faint of heart or lily livered. Two "men" (I use the term loosely) have already broken the pact we made and shaved because people told them they looked silly. And theirs looked about 57 times better than mine does. I am fully aware that by the end of my time in Iraq, there will still be no part of my mustache that you won't be able to see straight through, not unlike the fine, downy sheen of a fresh picked peach. But I am undeterred. Because these whiskers, all 26 or so of them, stand for something. I like to think of them as a microcosm of Iraq.

Nick goes on to tie his horrible looking caterpillar mustache to the overall war effort and wraps everything up with this:

Once again, we are HERE. Now. We won't get a second chance at this, and if we don't get it right, we'll face a threat that doesn't care about who you voted for or what your bumper stickers say. Watch the news, read up on what's going on over here. We're closer than we've ever been. The Surge is working, the Government of Iraq is progressing (albeit not quickly enough for some), and the people here want to see their government succeed. None of this will happen if we pull out too soon. We've started this mustache. Let's not shave before giving it a chance to grow.

I laughed at these horrible mustache as they began to slowly appear atop several of my co-workers lips. I thought for sure this silly idea would never prove to have staying power. Within the first two weeks of this plan several co-workers quickly shaved their lips. I had been asked several times to grow my mustache out! Ha I said. Do you know who you're asking to grow a mustache? I'm one of the most vain persons you've ever met. Really...Look up Merriam Websters definition of vain...It's my picture! So I said "NO!" Surely this poorly plotted plan would flop! NOPE! Instead it gained speed. Air Force Times picked it up! Read more...

Well as I took over the news team...there were many nights where we stayed late into the night putting together the nightly newscast. At the time, we had eight broadcasters working as individuals. We were working hard, but not smart. There were some highs, and some lows. After several morning meetings/mentoring/training/team building...the eight slowly began to work as a team. In a almost last ditch effort to bring them the final ten-yards to being a full-fledged team...I challenged them. I said if they could get the newscast done five straight nights by 5:30, I would grow a mustache to support the cause...I thought surely even if we hit our stride, there were enough uncontrollable variables that would prevent us from completing this task five consecutive nights.

WELL! It happened. Today was the fifth straight night...and it was a challenge. We had a no-notice press conference today that lasted nearly three hours. Yet, some how, we still pulled it off. So today, I begin to grow out my lip hair in support of my team. A team, I'm very proud to be apart of. A team, which I can easily say, is the best team I've ever been apart of. A team, who undoubtedly are leaving one hell of a fingerprint on the history of Iraq. Viva Stache!
Here is the latest update!

PS. Go Nick!

Freedom Journal Iraq

My friend asked me in one of her comments...

Just finished watching "The Quiet American." Anyhow...despite Brendan Frazier being a bad actor in the movie...it made me think about combat journalism and what stories you might be covering. Are you allowed to tell us what kinds of stories you're covering in the news over there?

So I want to take a few minutes of your time to tell you what YOUR military is doing over here and then show you how Freedom Journal Iraq is covering it. We're right in the middle of the "Surge of Operations." These operations are designed to seek out and remove Al Qaeda in Iraq, rouge and splinter groups of the Jaysh Al Maddi, Iranin Cupds Corp, and any other enemy of Iraq or Coalition Forces. The success of these operations by themselves will not result in a victory in Iraq. Rather, they will provide the time and space needed for Iraqi lawmakers to develop a fair and equitable Rule of Law and enable Iraqis take the lead in their own country. Freedom Journal Iraq is committed to highlighting success and progress being made by Coalition and Iraqi Forces...Kinetic and Non-Kinetic. Kinetically, we continue to detain insurgents, capture or kill terrorists, find weapons caches, and drop bombs on the bad guys. These type of operations is what you generally see in the media. However, you see all of the negative fall out from it. Here is what you missed:



With every victory on the battlefield, more and more local citizens are stepping up to defend their own cities. There is a buzz surrounding "Concerned Citizens." The Commanding General in Iraq, Dave Petraeus routinely walks through neighborhoods which months ago were ravaged by insurgents and zapped of their livelihood and shows the progress being made. You may have never heard about how cities up and down Iraq are returning to "normal!"



Last week we highlighted all of the Non-Kinetic success in Iraq. We had the Army Corp of Engineers, Gulf Region Division come in and talk about all of the electricity sub-stations, water systems, schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure projects completed and under way in Iraq.



Of course we also spend a great deal of time talking about capturing high ranking Al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists. We have two ways of telling this story. One is called a Look Live that we package in our newscast and send out to the Pentagon Channel for broadcast. The other is a brand new element called the "Raid Report." This product is a true testament to the quality of broadcasters I have on my team over here. I basically said, "Hey, I've got an idea...I think it should look like this..." Those who know me, I like to pretend I can draw, so I took my recycled paper on my desk a drew a rough sketch of what I was thinking about. This is the final result:



Final Thoughts:
No matter what side of the political agenda you find yourself...rest assured the men and women of the Armed Forces are making a difference in Iraq. You'll have to make up your own minds as far as the current political climate. REMEMBER TO VOTE!

By the way you can checkout FJI 24/7 on the MNF-I website Last night's cast is posted. I'm on Wednesday's cast.

Freedom Journal Iraq

Well, we hit the bottom of the barrel. Everyone on the team was busy, so I made a cameo appearance on FJI. This is right after I returned from my trip to Doha...so I'm uber-tan and super tired. Enjoy!

Marne Husky Update

All Good Things Must End

My three month run as Kasbah on Freedom Radio...the station just for you...IS OVER! My team and I worked hard. We fixed an error causing us not to be able to insert local information while on satellite. We deleted 45% of the content on our automation hard drive. This was all old, duplicate, or junk. This was causing a 1-2 day delay in transfer time. Now content transfers in about 10 seconds. We completely refreshed the radio imaging library...completely refreshed the music library...deleted 75 crappy commercials and replaced them with 100 better ones. We developed four massive campaigns aimed at key messages...and designed an automation scheme that allows for immediate push of hot issues. Freedom Radio and Freedom Radio News are now "BRANDED." People are talking about them and the jocks! There is a longer string of "important" stuff we did, but here is the cool part:

WE HAD A TON OF FUN!
I've had the privilege to work with some really strong, professional broadcasters. Plus, I've made a lot of new friends in the Voice Over world. By my quick broadcaster, public math...they've donated more than $10,000 worth of time and content to Freedom Radio. I plan to keep these friends forever!!!! These folks have done just about anything I've asked...for free! I really think these guys will be friends for life. (Both VO and broadcasters) The list is too long to hyperlink all their names. Check out KASBAH RADIO for names and links.

We got to do two EPIC countdowns...The Memorial Day Countdown and the Firecracker 500. By the way...we're not finished. Over Labor Day we plan to do a Rock A-Z show. This will be the icing on the cake!!!

So what is next???

I'm now heading up a team of nine in the news department. Freedom Journal Iraq produces a nightly 10-minute cast and a daily 1-minute cast. News is a challenge for me. It forces a guy with ADD to have to slow down, read, and understand. Plus I have to be uber-organized.

My #1 goal in news is to be light, lean, and lethal. I'm all about streamlining and empowerment. To that end...my friend Mark Glaser over at PBS' MediaShift is apart of a real big project! The question (project)???? How would you build a newsroom from scratch?
Here is a blurb from his blog:

A lot of the brightest minds in journalism have been thinking for some time about how the newsroom of the future might operate as we move from legacy print and broadcast operations into a more converged, Internet-centric world. I’ve taken a couple stabs myself at how a “New Newsroom” might operate, both in a guest post on PressThink in 2004 and on a recent post on MediaShift.

And now there are a series of discussions taking place called Journalism That Matters , where various deep thinkers are trying to literally invent “the next newsroom” prototype. Here is the blurb describing what they’re going to try to accomplish in Washington, DC, in early August:

Our goal is to facilitate critical discussion on the future and sustainability of journalism. Our unique approach is to first assemble editors, publishers, writers, researchers, academics, entrepreneurs, public advocates, independent and citizen journalists for fast, focused discussion. We’ll then define the ownership, management, location and sustainability of a ‘next newsroom’ prototype in at least one U.S. community, to launch in early- to mid-2008.

We’re going to answer this call: Pick an ideal location, and start a news organization from scratch, using the best-available technology and ideas, and without the obligations or burdens of legacy processes or infrastructure. Where will it be, what will it look like, who will own it, and how will it run.

What a great question and project. This will be the empowerment question for my news team. Look out world...Here comes Freedom Journal Iraq...Your source for news that matters!


PS. Rosanne Barr's radio show lasted two months on XM...mine lasted three. HELL YEAH!