By: Todd Shields It took weeks of waiting in Egypt, in Bahrain, and aboard American Navy ships in Asian waters but reporter C. Mark Brinkley finally made it into Afghanistan with U.S. ground troops.
The move last week put the reporter for Gannett Co. Inc.?s weekly
Marine Corps Times in a prime position, even as it moved the U.S. press corps nearer its goal of closely covering the military campaign in Central Asia.
Military officials late last week indicated a rotation would be set up for journalists going into southern Afghanistan for sojourns with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Those visiting the unit early last week included Brinkley; Doug Mellgren, a writer for The Associated Press; a TV cameraman for the AP; and a photographer and a reporter for the Reuters wire service.
Washington news bureau chiefs have pressed the Pentagon for more access to military operations. Several welcomed last week?s deployment and expressed hope it was a portent.
"It is exactly where we want to be ? with the U.S. military on the ground in Afghanistan," said AP Washington Bureau Chief Sandy Johnson. "We hope things take off from there."
Brinkley, 27, went to the region in mid-October and "really just stuck it out," said Rob Colenso, managing editor of the Springfield, Va.-based
Marine Corps Times. "We just kept him there in hopes we could solidify our relationship with the military."
The media move was arranged with the cooperation of military authorities in Bahrain, said Colenso. It left unsummoned the national media pool that may yet be gathered from Washington to cover the next phase of U.S. military operations.
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