PRT Muthanna
Journalists Capture Drought, Archaeological Sites
By Special Correspondent
Kelli A. Cook
Muthanna Province- Two Army Blackhawk helicopters touched down at Joint
Security Station Soto early on the morning of October 11th to pick up ten Muthanna reporters, loaded with cameras and notebooks, eager to take their first ever helicopter trip.
The three hour trip, arranged for the PRT by the 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division Public Affairs Officer Maj. Myles Caggins and flown by the 28th Combat Aviation Brigade of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, was an once-in-a-lifetime chance for the journalists to take aerial shots of their province. The primary focus of the mission was to take pictures of the extreme drought plaguing Muthanna province. While the reporters report on this dire environmental situation daily, a picture really is worth a thousand words and the aerial shots of Lake Sahwa and the Euphrates River provided a grim picture of the stark reality Muthannans live with.
"The flyover provided Iraqi media a birds-eye-view of the current conditions in the marshes," said Maj. Caggins, spokesman for U.S. Forces in Dhi Qar, Maysan, and Muthanna.
The flight also took the journalists to photograph the archaeological sites Ziggurat of Ur and Warka. The Warka leg was especially remarkable because the ruins are sunken so to see them from the air was a chance to see the vastness of the former city. "Flying over the ruins gave the photojournalists amazing shots that showed the many different and varied layers of the Warka ruins. These shots are something they never would have been able to take if they had not gone on the trip," remarked PRT Muthanna Public Diplomacy Officer Kelli Cook.
Yousef Al-Muhsen, News Director for Muthanna TV Station, said the following about the trip,"I would like to inform you that all journalists enjoyed the helicopter ride...it was a new experience to most of the them, especially those who are working in TV stations. As a news director to one of the biggest media outlets in Muthanna and on behalf of all participants I'd like to thank you for the event."
The trip was part of the ongoing relationship the PRT maintains with the provincial press to provide them with training and equipment. The next training session, as requested by the journalists, will be a photography class to be taught by a military news photographer.