thedrifter
11-23-02, 08:33 AM
QUANTICO, Va. (AP) -- Lugging 25 pounds of gear, several dozen journalists wrapped up a week of military training Friday with a five-mile hike that included a few mock ambushes along the way.
Except for a reporter who suffered minor burns from a smoke canister, the journalists completed their hike with nary a shin splint.
''They're doing good,'' said Lt. Col. Rick Long, the public affairs director at Quantico Marine Corps Base who had worked closely with the reporters since they arrived Tuesday. ''You don't have time to go into great detail with them, but you can give them some basic skills that can save their life.''
The training -- hosted first by the Navy, then the Marines -- began last Saturday with 58 journalists bouncing 40 miles across 6-foot waves to the USS Iwo Jima, the Navy's newest amphibious assault ship. From the Norfolk Naval Station, the journalists move d to Quantico.
The training is designed to give journalists rudimentary military competence and perhaps give commanders more confidence in allowing them on the front lines during a war with Iraq. Media organizations complained during the Persian Gulf War and the Afghanistan conflict about lack of access.
''I wish I had had this training before,'' said Barry Shlachter, a reporter with Knight Ridder newspapers. ''I've made 11 trips to Afghanistan and I've never had any training like this.''
The seminar included physical activity like the march and training in such things as proper use of a gas mask, mine awareness, using a map in unfamiliar terrain and basic military first aid. The journalists also learned how to identify and avoid enemy fire in hostile territory.
In one exercise, they took off in a helicopter and got a dose of battlefield conditions.
Sempers,
Roger
Except for a reporter who suffered minor burns from a smoke canister, the journalists completed their hike with nary a shin splint.
''They're doing good,'' said Lt. Col. Rick Long, the public affairs director at Quantico Marine Corps Base who had worked closely with the reporters since they arrived Tuesday. ''You don't have time to go into great detail with them, but you can give them some basic skills that can save their life.''
The training -- hosted first by the Navy, then the Marines -- began last Saturday with 58 journalists bouncing 40 miles across 6-foot waves to the USS Iwo Jima, the Navy's newest amphibious assault ship. From the Norfolk Naval Station, the journalists move d to Quantico.
The training is designed to give journalists rudimentary military competence and perhaps give commanders more confidence in allowing them on the front lines during a war with Iraq. Media organizations complained during the Persian Gulf War and the Afghanistan conflict about lack of access.
''I wish I had had this training before,'' said Barry Shlachter, a reporter with Knight Ridder newspapers. ''I've made 11 trips to Afghanistan and I've never had any training like this.''
The seminar included physical activity like the march and training in such things as proper use of a gas mask, mine awareness, using a map in unfamiliar terrain and basic military first aid. The journalists also learned how to identify and avoid enemy fire in hostile territory.
In one exercise, they took off in a helicopter and got a dose of battlefield conditions.
Sempers,
Roger