DAY 140: 14 JUN 08

Well Friday the 13th definitely was a night mare for some. I did not post yesterday because I was up until 4 AM my time or 7:30 PM your time. Death seems to be all around me and I hate it. Fallen comrade ceremonies and then NBC comes to focus on Afghanistan and the war and what happens? Tim Russert dies. I will start from the beginning.

I slept in yesterday until about 11AM my time as I was still recovering from my stomach ailment. I am happy to report that I am back to almost 100% there. I went into work and checked on a few things to get ready for the Brian Williams piece. We had an interesting debate in the news room about some military related stuff which I enjoyed. Sometimes I have to watch myself but none the less I had the guys laughing which ultimately keeps the morale up and my mind working. I set out to the entry control point (ECP) here on Bagram to wait for the arrival of Brian Williams and his team. It’s been hot as hell around here so right off of the bat I was sweating buckets. I met up with one of the Army Public Affairs soldiers and waited patiently. Shortly after 3 O’clock the 4 or 5 vehicle convoy pulled in and we rendezvous up to figure out the plan for the day. At that point it was to go get Brian and company into some form of billeting, do the interview with MG Schloesser and then find out where they would setup their studio live from.

I waited patiently for one of the soldiers to introduce me but it never happened. It’s not like I feel I need to be introduced but being from AFN and low ranking it puts me in a precarious situation. I do not want to over step my bounds but also needed to be frank about wanting to ask him a few questions and letting him know we are doing a piece on his being here. Anyway after I realized the Army was not going to do anything I decide to depend on the person I always depend on: Rob.

Mr. Williams moved closer to me and I stepped in and introduced myself, told him why I was there, thanked him for coming, and asked if he had time if we could do an interview. He was super nice and said absolutely yes. He grew up in NJ and went on about how his Dad was a captain in WWII and how he supports the troops and military. We broke conversation and they left as I took a few audio and video guys with me in the truck.

We drove over to the flight line where the interview with the general was to be. I pulled in got out and started getting ready. In the mean time I started BSing with the cameramen from NBC who had killer equipment. I commented to the guy that I felt like I was playing in the big leagues now. He shot back not to worry, but that his camera was a major league camera. Anyway after about 20 minutes the General and Brian came out and started the interview. They walked and talked and I got many of the shots I needed also making sure that I did not get into the NBC cameraman’s way. At one point one snapped at me ‘You got to get out of the shot’ and I did. After that it was not an issue. Unfortunately I screwed up the white balance on my camera which later ended up being a very miniscule issue. I was pissed at myself though as it’s a rookie mistake. Anyway after they were done I said to Brian 'Sir when can I interview you? He said there is no time better than the present. So as different people, mainly officers, walked up to get their picture with him I got ready for the interview.

I asked 2 questions and at the end if he wanted to add anything. It was awesome. He gave great answers and made it easy for me. I am truly impressed with him not only as a big time news anchor but as a human being. He is smooth, composed, on the ball, funny, and easy to be around. After I got done one of the camera men said wait let’s get you in the shot. They did an over my shoulder and over his shoulder so when you see the piece on Monday it looks like I had a guy running the camera with me. It meant a ton to me because now the interview seems more like you naturally see with the interview subject and the interviewee. Anyway after that I got my picture with him and said thank you. It was funny though because he asked where I was from and I replied Pittsburgh. He immediately went off about the Steelers in the 1970s and Jack Lambert. He asked me if it was true that he is a high school football coach and I quickly replied that no he is a PA game warden and that my dad and I ran into him in the woods once. He laughed and said no way. He also mentioned about Dwight White’s death which is sad in and of itself.

I left happy and very confident as it was a great experience up until that point. I got back to the studio around 5PM and digitized the video so that I could see how bad or good it was. It ended up not being too bad which made me feel a little better about my blunder. I did the sports show from 6:30 to 8:30 and then finished some odds and ends up late before watching some of the US Open.

I came back to my room to talk to Michelle before heading over to the newscast location as I wanted to get some footage of him going live. When I clicked on the internet I had noticed the headline about Tim Russert dyeing! I knew at that point it would be a different night than anticipated. I got over to the set at about 1 AM at which point Brian was preparing for the newscast somewhere else. The mode was somber and I was very quiet. I talked to some of the crew who were very receptive to me, and they told me he was just live talking about Tim about 30 minutes before. I guess he came on with Tom Brokaw and talked about Tim.

So then one of the crew turns to me about 30 minutes before they go live and says ‘Man 2 days of work shot because they changed the whole newscast to be about Mr. Russert’. While I can understand why they are doing this I can also understand the crew members frustration since they worked hard on coming all the way to Afghanistan to cover this stuff and then not even use almost 2 days worth of work and footage for that nights newscast. But hey that’s how the news business goes.

On a side note I could tell these people were dragging and sad about the situation of losing one of their coworkers. The one guy says hey do you know where any coffee is? I said let me find out. Now right off of the bat I know for damn sure if the Air Force were handling them being there, there would have been a table near that TV set with some finger food, pop, water, coffee, tea, and other little stuff. This is NBC and Brian Williams and we do have low ranking people who could knock this out but HELL NO with the Army. All they have is some bottles of water for these poor people. Pitiful display in my humble opinion by the 101st Airborne Division Public Affairs Office. None the less at this point I make my second blunder of the day. As the Lieutenant Colonel walks by me as I ask her if she knows where I can find any coffee. Not the best question to ask a LTC! (I once asked another LTC at Ft. Dix if he knew where we could get a light bulb for our tent when we were at the FOB in the middle of the pine barons in NJ in January) Anyway it was my bad but boy have I never seen officers with such lack of self esteem to need rank so much. I’ll say it once and say it again whether I am an E-1 or O-10 I am Rob Joswiak and my abilities, aspirations, outlook, personality, and character are not, nor will they ever be, dictated by my rank! I cannot say the same for many people in the military. Anyway she fires back NO but these NCO (Non commissioned officers) can help you!

They proceed to lay into me a bit and then go off about some other people at my work! I will not go into details about this as it is a little personal for some but just another example of the 101st’s arrogance and blindness in my view. I later find coffee and give one lady a coke I had. I did the best for them I could under the circumstances.

At about 3:15 he came out and started the newscast. It got super quiet and everyone moved to the sides so his peripheral vision was not distracted. Brian was very quiet and different than earlier in the day as you can imagine. I got a bunch of good shoots as you will see in the piece that I should be able to post on Monday. After the newscast was done I left but I think they went live again for a special NBC Dateline.

By the time I got to bed it was like 4:30 AM here so I did not go into work today until 1 PM. I worked on the piece some and also have another shoot tonight. I just ultimately cannot get over the whole Tim Russert thing being so close to his coworkers when it happened and on Father’s day weekend as well.

I think of my Dad and his health at a time like this and just hope he makes sure his heart is good shape as it can happen to anyone at anytime. I would also like to add that while I am critical of the Army I have great respect for them and their people. I just think many times they do not think enough about a situation where as many times I think too much.

Either way everyone have a great weekend and look for some calls today if not tomorrow. I will post the video and pictures on Monday.