A Battlefield Tourist

January 29, 2004

Feb 23 at 8:08am by David Tate

Wow… talk about timing. To catch you up:   Since October, I have been planning a trip to Afghanistan. In particular, I plan to go to SE Afghanistan along the Pakistani border. The name of the documentary was going to be “Outpost Khost”. The name has since changed (for now), but the mission remains. 

The plan is to get to Bagram where we will be assigned a unit. We hope to rotate into the field with this unit, then rotate out again once their mission is complete. From this. we plan to produce a docu-series that will show the inside life of a small combat unit. We have some other plans as well, but for reasons, I won’t say much more.   We have been fortunate enough to hook up with WBRA (PBS/Roanoke), who has agreed to sponsor our series. With this blessing, we have been working for the past several months for funds that will allow us to remain in the field for up to six weeks. To date, the efforts have been relatively slow. We expect that to change soon however. 

Next week we will be receiving our grant proposal. We hired a professional service that is reknowned for its work in helping people like me to professionally and properly present our proposal. We hope this will help us secure the funding we need. For this reason and the fact that we are under the PBS umbrella has our hopes skyhigh that we will soon have the funds to complete this project. 

With that said, imagine my delight and sadness at today’s news. Seems as though we guessed right: 

***ASSOCIATED PRESS*** 

At the Pentagon, orders have been issued to prepare equipment and supplies for the coming offensive, although the operation will not necessarily require additional troops in the region, a defense official said on condition of anonymity. The upcoming operation, first reported by the Chicago Tribune, has been dubbed the “spring offensive.”   Another Pentagon official declined to discuss the possibility that troops would extend operations to the Pakistan side of the border, where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden (news – web sites) and top lieutenants have long been said to be hiding. But the official said that might have to be the next step. 

Defense Department officials believe current operations in Afghanistan are not having the effect they want on the terrorist network and they are determined to do more, the official said. 

Officials already have said they hope to finally capture bin Laden this year, a development that could benefit President Bush (news – web sites) in the November election. About 11,000 U.S. troops are in the region. 

One senior defense official said Pentagon leaders determined a couple of months ago that it is important to catch bin Laden, more for the symbolism than for his military value.   ”I can say that Osama bin Laden and (and former Taliban leader) Mullah Omar represent a threat to the world, and they need to be destroyed, and we believe we will catch them in the next year,” Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a spokesman for military forces in the region, told CNN. 
***** 
I talked to Col. Hilferty today and we’re still planning to be in country by April 1st. Obviously it all depends on securing funds. I spent an hour on PBS’s “Blue Ridge Live” talking about my mission and I was featured recently in the local paper… still no bites though. Funny thing is, I’ll probably find the money somehow and show the naysayers what’s up. Then things will change.