Blogs
Back in the sandbox
A former US soldier and milbogger who served in Iraq until October 2007 is heading back to the “sandbox”, but not with the army, I am going back of my own free will- I am becoming a participant in this great experiment of independent, citizen journalism. I am going back to Iraq as a photojournalist, […]
Reporting restrictions
Tom Roeder of the Colorado Springs Gazette kicks off his Iraq Notebook blog by uploading a copy of the original reporting restrictions agreement he signed with the US Military before heading to Iraq, It’s fairly rare for reporters, always fond of their constitutional rights, to agree to any government-imposed restriction of their activities. It’s important […]
From Colorado Springs to Baghdad
Colorado Springs Gazette reporter Tom Roeder and photojournalist David Bitton head to Baghdad to report on the 4,000 soliders from the Springs area who are stationed there. The duo will report for the newspaper and will also keep a blog – Iraq Notebook. On reporting from Iraq, the Gazette notes, The Army doesn’t censor reports […]
Inside Out – January 2008
When we began recruiting members to the Frontline Club, we were often told that it would never work. After all, the sceptics said, why would you want to become part of a club that catered to war journalists and ex-hacks who would bore you with their tales of near death experiences? Four years later and […]
Heathcliff O’Malley is blogging
And what’s that new name at the top of the page? Frontline club member Heathcliff O’Malley joins the From the frontline blog ranks today. He’s a photographer, often found within the pages of the Daily Telegraph. He’s on the road in Russia, following President Vladimir Putin across the steppes. Go read his blog. If you […]
Inside Out – November 07
One of the most important debates in journalism is far from over at the Frontline Club. It’s about whether the war in Iraq and the dangerous conflicts in Somalia and Gaza and elsewhere have made it nearly impossible for correspondents and news teams working for “western” news media to do their jobs. In recent months, […]
Excerpts from the sandbox
This week Slate publish excerpts from a series of stories from the frontlines of Iraq and Afghanistan. The snippets are taken from the Sandbox blog which is a collaboration between Doonesbury creator G.B. Trudeau and editor David Stanford. The blog is a mix of opium, bullets and dangerous encounters along with insights into the daily […]
Best of the war blogs
The BBC’s iPM blog picks up the war blogging theme following on from poppy wearing Rememberance Sunday with a “selection of the best “milblogs””
From the First World War frontline
Exactly what it says on the tin. WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier consists of letters from the frontline during the First World War brought to you by Harry Lamin via blogpower from beyond the grave. via Pods & Blogs
16 Minute Film on BBC Newsnight Tonight
Tonight is the night: 10.30pm on BBC 2. BBC Newsnight plan to show my 16 minute film. I could get bumped off by a major news event and if this happens it should then appear tomorrow night. The film might get picked up by BBC World and shown internationally. The 16 minute film was shot […]
Owning up to war
Since leaving them 20 years ago I have always wanted to film my old army regiment, the Grenadier Guards, on operations and I have just returned from staying with them in Helmand, in southern Afghanistan, where they have been involved in intense fighting. It was not my first attempt at filming the Grenadiers in action. […]
Inside Out – October 07
There’s something startling about passing by the most hallowed Serbian monument in Kosovo en route to a bold new journalism school in Kosovo. There you are driving by Kosovo Polje when you come across the monument commemorating the 1389 Ottoman Turk defeat of Serbia. On this spot a young Communist leader named Slobodan Milosevic inflamed […]
Back in Britain with a Bag of Video Tapes
Sadly my time is up with the British Army in Afghanistan. There are lots of journalists who want the space and I will have to wait my turn to come back. I tried to get back to Kabul in time for my scheduled flight to London’s Heathrow, but this wasn’t possible so I ended up […]
Desert Caterpillars
[video:youtube:dEnPKWSBYqk] I returned from Gereshk in a convoy of “Vikingsâ€. The Royal Marines left behind these strange looking vehicles when they were here last winter. Each vehicle has two pods and wide tracks. They are highly manoeuvrable and as useful in the desert as the arctic. I am told that they can also swim. Nobody […]
They are not Tanks
[video:youtube:HEDRM6l0SKs] I was in Gereshk to witness the first deployment in Southern Afghanistan of what the military would call “proper armourâ€. A company of Scots Guards, called the Right Flank, arrived in a large sand-cloud with more than 20 “Warrior†armoured fighting vehicles. Soldiers frown and straighten their collars when you call them tanks because […]
The Military Press Officer
Lieutenant Commander Mike Parr of the Royal Navy has been with me wherever I go in Helmand. I would not have been allowed to come here without a “minderâ€. Mike’s main job is to make sure that I don’t compromise operational security. To check that I don’t put the soldiers lives at risk by what […]
Gereshk Evening Patrol and Fighting
[video:youtube:vF2Ec9_r4qY] Now I have arrived in a forward operating base in Gereshk, still in Helmand, where I am staying with 3 Company, Grenadier Guards. I have been told that the base is frequently mortared but the soldiers seem jovial. But it’s more than jovial. It is as if they don’t think that life can throw […]
Helicopter Deliveries in Helmand
[video:youtube:jJS124JAQ7I] Everyone likes a helicopter ride. I have been flying around with the Royal Air Force Chinooks over the British Army’s 12 Brigade’s area in Helmand as they delivered ammunition in under-slung loads. The helicopters are armed with machine guns and a chain gun to counter the ever-present threat from the Taliban. They are essential […]
Mortared in Gereshk
[video:youtube:ac0TXK6yuj0] I woke up early in the morning, and was sitting up on my camp-bed, when I heard a distant “popâ€. It took me about a second to realise what I thought it was and I reassured myself that I was under protective cover. I was right. Shortly after there was a loud explosion in […]
Chocolate Melts!
[video:youtube:x0FeOOHDcKQ] The soldiers have been living on field rations, many of them for months on end. The rations aren’t bad. They contain the right balance of nourishment that the soldiers need but they are boring day after day. Some of the Guardsmen were joking with me that their protective jackets don’t fit them anymore because […]
Afghan Army Training
[video:youtube:kQ-S-ipUmQk] I have now attached myself to Colour Sergeant Jim Bastin of the Inkerman Company of the Grenadier Guards. He is part of the 3rd Kandak training team. I have been able to film him running through some basic drills with them on the helicopter pad. I am going to spend more time with both […]
Camel Spider!
I have never seen a camel spider (solifugae) before but have heard stories about them. I had company last night.
Sangin Patrol and the Mastiff
[video:youtube:z7oJLwUUEHg] This morning I went on patrol with the Queen’s Company of the Grenadier Guards and the First Kandak of the Afghan National Army commanded by Major Attaullah. The commander of the British ‘mentors†was Colour Sergeant “Spook†Boak. The job of training and fighting with indigenous forces is the sort of role that Special […]
Sangin River
[video:youtube:aP9WHMG2a90] I arrived in Sangin this morning by helicopter and met up with the Queens Company, Grenadier Guards. The was a soldier in the Queens Company 20 years ago. When the Parachute Regiment were in Sangin last year they were subject to almost constant attack from the Taliban. Attacks now are relatively infrequent but you […]
Peter and the Gandamac Lodge
[video:youtube:2iltEbDjM_M] While waiting in Kabul, to come down to Helmand, I stayed at Peter Jouvenal’s Gandamac Lodge. It’s run by Peter and his Afghan wife, Hassina, and I have never stayed anywhere quite like it. I was in Kabul in 2001 when Peter decided to open a guesthouse there. He had just finished as John […]
Afghanistan and the Grenadier Guards
I am off to spend some time with my old army unit who are currently in the thick of it in Helmand, Afghanistan. I used to be a Captain in the Grenadier Guards 20 years ago. I left in 1987 and went out to Afghanistan to become an independent video journalist. I have been back […]
Inside Out – September 07
August finds me like most other Londoners who for various reasons are not on holiday in some exotic clime grumbling constantly about the dismal weather. And those of us in London are the lucky ones. No flash floods, no hurricanes, no monster storms, no death defying heat waves. But that said, we’d still like to […]
Inside Out – August 07
They don’t make them anymore like Horst Faas. Anyone who had the privilege of hearing Faas at two recent Frontline Club events held in association with The Associated Press would have come away with that feeling. Faas, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for his photography, is now 74 and confined to a wheel chair. He […]