I’ve always wanted to assist people in times of crisis (think law enforcement, EMT’s, fire fighters) in my younger years. That feeling never went away but was subdued after a while due to a teenage life of socializing and other interests per MTV’s influence. After completing highschool and reaching the age where consent from one’s parents was not needed to enlist in the military, I signed up for an 8-year contract with the United States Army. I’d like to think I was inebriated or woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day, but I was in fact sober as I signed my life away for the coming years of both joy and pain.
The job I was chosen to do was what the Army calls a “Public Affairs Specialist”, or a “combat cameraman”. In the real world, we’d call this a journalist/photographer. For those that have seen Stanley Kubricks, Full Metal Jacket, this would be the Army equivalent of “Private Joker’s” job.
It’s been a few years and one deployment, and since then, I’ve heard hundreds of different stories from servicemembers from all branches of the military, diplomats, ministers, Senators, and other political figures. One thing I realized during this time is that everyone, from a lowly Private just out of Basic Training to the Defense Minister of Kuwait, has a story to tell. Realizing this, my work is seldom a chore, as I get to see people doing whatever it is that their job requires to them to do and wherever or whenever it occurs. From planting explosives, to the signing of a trade agreement, taking part in both history and experiencing something new for every “story” out there provides the must needed spontaneity in having a job.
Their stories not only benefit readers in the sense that they can understand what the interviewee is talking about, but also is a huge morale boost for these story-tellers. Knowing that someone out there cares and is listening to them speak does tremendous things to a Marine on his 7th month of his deployment in Iraq along with his family who await his return back home.
With this in mind, I do what I do, (due) to the fact that not only am I able to assist other Soldiers or civilians in an crisis setting if need be, but am also able to hear their individual, unique stories in the process.
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