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Sunday, February 27, 2005
EDITOR'S NOTE: Jeannine Guttman
Maine joins in the journey of the 133rd
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||
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Also on this page: Mainers at War | |||||
The deployment last year of some 500-plus members of the 133rd Engineer Battalion of the Maine Army National Guard was historic, representing the largest group of troops sent from the state since World War II. And the homecoming will be historic, too. To commemorate this return, our newspaper is publishing a special 40-page section this Saturday, March 5. Included with our regular Saturday newspaper, it will contain the highlights of our coverage of the 133rd. The bulk of this journalism was done by columnist Bill Nemitz and photographer Gregory Rec, who traveled twice to Mosul, Iraq, to cover the Maine troops stationed there. The section will contain a fresh cover story by Nemitz, who's spent the past few days with the returning troops at Ft. Drum, N.Y. After a brief re-entry period in New York, the troops will travel to Maine, and are expected to be in state late this week. Some members of the 133rd, sadly, won't be coming home. The battalion lost three soldiers, who were killed during the 13-month deployment. Their stories, their lives, also are part of this important special section. Nemitz and Rec were embedded with the 133rd twice - first in April, and then in December. Their assignment evolved as the news developed from Forward Operating Base Marez. "They went there to chronicle the unit's hopes and fears, to report on its struggle to do good in an increasingly hostile war zone," managing editor Eric Conrad said. The special section preserves the achievements and losses of the 133rd, and its legacy in Iraq. It was designed by copy editor Don Coulter, who worked with Conrad to select the stories and photographs. "The section makes for a good historical look at the 133rd in Iraq, from the unit's deployment early last year through its return to the United States," Coulter said. "It makes for a rare glimpse into citizen-soldiers who surely never dreamed they'd be taking up arms in a foreign country. "In putting together the material for the section, I was impressed that not only were we able to provide exclusive coverage of these soldiers in Iraq, but that our staff also did a good job of covering the hardships of the families they had to leave behind in Maine. All together, this section shows that our coverage of the 133rd over the past year or so has been both newsworthy and sophisticated." As you read again the stories filed by Nemitz and study anew the photos taken by Rec, I think you'll revisit an important chapter of Maine history. And I think you'll find a common denominator as well: The community at large supported these men and women during their journey to Iraq. The political debate about the war was for another place. The partisan disagreements around the conflict were for another time. Troops from Maine were ordered into battle in a hostile land. And our staffers felt they had to go, too. Why, you may ask. First, it's what journalists do. Second, it's what our readers expected us to do. From the beginning, we felt ethically obligated to do whatever we could to give our readers reports on this important story, of Maine people going to war. Our news decision to follow these troops to Mosul reflected two powerful forces: Our profession's tradition to track the story, wherever it may go, and our newspaper's duty to understand and respond to the community interest. Inspired by those two catalysts, our staffers embarked on the sometimes dangerous assignment. But the work of Nemitz and Rec wouldn't have gone very far at all without the active help of many members of the military and their families. And we always need to acknowledge the spirit in which they welcomed our staffers, while recognizing that our journalists had a difficult, and sometimes controversial, job to do. We asked for a free rein, and were granted that. The military brass respected our insistence on reporting independence, which we required in order to give our readers objective, unvarnished reports. The troops understood that, too, and afforded Nemitz and Rec what amounted to unlimited access. Back home in Maine, their families gave us that same kind of unfettered view of their lives, making the personal very public. This was something that they didn't have to do, but something they chose to do in order to share this story with all of us. In retrospect, what our newspaper was doing - what Nemitz and Rec were doing - was covering an extraordinary community, filled with extraordinary people at a defining moment in time. Some will call that community the 133rd, and talk about the common bonds. Some will call it a military community, and reflect on the shared traditions. Others will simply call the community Maine. And they'd be right.
Jeannine Guttman is editor and vice president of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. Send e-mail to jguttman@e to 390 Congress St., Portland, Maine 04101.
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