University Of Combat
The University of Alaska J-school is embedding student journalists with an Alaska-based Stryker battalion in Diyala province, one of those parts of Iraq where al-Qaeda remains a problem, posing a reasonable likelihood that the three students and their professor could be exposed to fire. Chronicle of Higher Education:
In recent years, the university’s journalism department has embedded students with the 25th Infantry Division’s 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, known as the Arctic Wolves, during Alaska-based training exercises, said Brian Patrick O’Donoghue, chairman of the university’s journalism department and the professor who is leading the trip. Last spring the university’s president, Mark R. Hamilton, a 31-year Army veteran who retired in 1998 as a major general, approached several student journalists about sending students on a real-life mission to Iraq.
The students went to Mr. O’Donoghue with the idea. “I didn’t imagine it would ever happen,” he said. But after discussing it with Army officers, who he said were receptive and helpful, Mr. O’Donoghue brought the president a proposal to send himself and three students to the war-ravaged country, at a cost of $35,000.
…
The students—Mr. Hewitt, along with Jessica Hoffman and Jennifer Canfield—were chosen by journalism-department professors from among 12 applicants. Mr. O’Donoghue said he spoke to the parents of each of five finalists, and that while most considered it a coming-of-age opportunity for their children, one family was terrified.
You’ll want to read the whole thing. Here’s what I think:
Great. We send teenaged high school graduates to kill al Qaeda, why shouldn’t we send 20-something college kids to watch and learn? Call it an extreme exercise in civic education.
There are pros and cons.
College journalism students are typically active journalists, both at their college newspapers and often in community newspapers. Med students observe and participate in messy procedures, why shouldn’t journo students, in well-designed, purposeful programs? That appears to be what is happening here.
It is experience that will inform the careers and lives of people in positions of influence … both future professional journalists and sitting professors. More universities should consider this, in the context of purposeful programs. A number of people, including me, have complained about the vast gulf between general society and the military, that is perhaps deepest between academia and the military. I can see these students as ambassadors who could perform important work in narrowing that gap. I will not be surprised at all if one or more of them end up enlisting after this is over. But apart from that, they will be in a much better position to discuss current events than many people … some on college campuses … who have claimed to support the troops while disparaging what they are doing from positions of supreme ignorance.
They might get killed or maimed. Our nation is eight years into a long war. A lot of people have been killed or maimed, ranging from innocent civilians to young and old soldiers to embedded reporters. I don’t see what makes college kids special in that regard, if they are well-informed and prepared for what they might face.
I could see the usefulness of embedding anthropology students, medical students, law students. The possibilities are probably endless. In purposeful, structured programs.
The argument can be made they lack the training young soldiers have, and the experience in stressful situations that older journalists have. Maybe. They’ve apparently already been embedded on stateside training exercises with the unit they’ll be attached to in the war zone. That puts them head-and-shoulders above a lot of the professional journalists who were embedded in the invasion of Iraq. That motley crew included large numbers of people with health problems that included heart conditions, weight and diabetes; little experience in rough living; and no prior exposure whatsoever to the military or war zones. It also included people the same age as these students. It worked out pretty well.
My greater concern is the extent to which students might prove a distraction and a hindrance to the soldiers. That is an issue for the Army, which at this point is six years into its highly successful embedding initiative. It sounds like this group, given its prior experience with the unit, might be less likely to pose that kind of problem.
While there have been gripes on both sides about the embedding program, there have been no major problems and a lot of successes. The flap over Geraldo Rivera’s map in the sand was ridiculous. The NBC cameraman who filmed the killing of a wounded, unsecured insurgent prisoner suspected of going for a grenade created worldwide controversy, but prompted a pretty meaningful discussion and better understanding of real-world combat issues … the snap, life-and-death decisions soldiers must make.
Over all, the U.S. military’s calculation that by embedding journalists in combat units the truth will out … that American soldiers are perhaps the most disciplined, compassionate, adaptive and effective combat force the world has ever seen … has proven correct. Opportunities not just to cover the news but to gain a deeper understanding of what is going on has been greatly enhanced by embedding when it was fully exploited. Which regrettably, it hasn’t been much, lately.
One thing, though. These kids need to understand that this is not a field trip that is over when you come home. It is a one-way ticket on one of life’s most intense and terrible rides. It isn’t just that they might get killed or maimed. They need to understand that even if the potential for exposure to fire and the horrific circumstances of combat isn’t fully realized, and if they do get to come home, they don’t get to be who they were when they left. That innocent college kid won’t exist any more.
Topics: Iraq, academia, media, military
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:24 am on Friday, July 31, 2009
4 Responses to “University Of Combat”
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July 31st, 2009 at 10:45 am
Heads up. Just because Rooney blows now does not mean he blew then. Unless, of course, he did.
July 31st, 2009 at 12:38 pm
“blew” = flew?
July 31st, 2009 at 12:45 pm
That innocent college kid won’t exist any more.
But they will come home with a deeper understanding than most of us get, of how precious life is, and how precious our way of life is.
August 1st, 2009 at 11:07 am
We all lose our innocence at one time or another. It’s called “growing up”. Soldiering is a harsh way of doing so, but it’s a proven methodology.
But you’re right, Jules. This won’t be a field trip, not in any way, shape , or form. I’ve personally dealt with civilians going into Iraq or Afghanistan who thought just that…..and found out the hard way. They weren’t killed or wounded, they just realized that just being near active combat is a life changing moment.