|
|
|
|
 |
||
 |
| |
||||
Warming to media role |
||||
With that, the rear door of our ASLAV clanged shut, and the temperature began to crawl, then shoot, skyward. Exercise Afghan Dusk was in full swing and our role-playing embedded international news team was hitching a ride to the sharp end of the Reconstruction Task Force. Lt Peter Martinelli had become Mr Tariq Ali, ready to broadcast cable news to a global audience of 80 million people. Thirty minutes later, sweat dripped from my beard and the blue media Kevlar helmet constricted my skull like a band of steel. I began to reconsider my first foray into acting. Keep the Oscar, I wanted air con. Our armoured convoy wound through Oruzgan Province, aka Wide Bay Training Area, and the mercury kept rising. The dust, the heat and the itchy facial hair were all for the benefit of RTF 2 – soon to deploy in real time to Afghanistan, where lessons learned in a greener part of the world would be put to good use. With the aid of role-playing teams from 1 Joint Public Affairs Unit, officers and their soldiers found that the media was a slippery beast, quick to praise and equally quick to expose mistakes. Eight hours after our ASLAV left the front gates, a grimy, exhausted and slightly pot-roasted media crew cut their stories … and rehearsed their acceptance speeches for Best Actor. |
