Topic: Searching for Afghanistan vets for interview

[lberthiaume]

Good afternoon,

My name is Lee Berthiaume and I'm writing from Postmedia News (i.e. the National Post, Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, etc).

Postmedia is currently undertaking a major project looking at the Canadians who served in Afghanistan.

I am looking in particular for former CF members who have served in Afghanistan during the last decade who would be willing to be interviewed for the piece. I am looking for men and women, reg force and militia, of varying ages, ranks, ethnicity and religion, and those who joined up before 9/11 and after, and who served one tour or multiple tours. Looking particularly for those living in the Ottawa, Kingston, Trenton, Petawawa and/or Montreal area.

The types of questions I'd be asking include why you joined the CF and when, how you would compare your experience in Afghanistan to the rest of your time in the Forces, what you thought about your experience and afterward, why you left the Forces and what you are doing now.

Best case would be to sit-down for about half an hour to 45 minutes, part of which would be video recorded for use as a multi-media segment on the Postmedia website (www.canada.com) as well as photographs.

If you are interested, please contact me at lberthiaume@postmedia.com or 613-369-4806.

Thank you very much.

Lee Berthiaume

[PuckChaser]

You state you want people to explain "why you left the Forces", so you are only looking for retired members?

[milnews.ca]

Welcome, Lee - you've picked a very good place to look for subjects.

In case you haven't already seen it, here's some generic tips we've developed for all journalists dropping by here:
http://forums.milnet.ca/forums/index.php/topic,102806.msg1080242.html#msg1080242

I know you've written a fair bit about the Afghan mission, so don't be shy about posting links to a few of your pieces to give folks here a feel for your coverage.

Curious:  why the focus on Ottawa, Kingston, Trenton, Petawawa and/or Montreal area?

Good luck, and we'd love to see any material coming out of your contacts here.

Milnet.ca Staff

[GAP]

Curious:  why the focus on Ottawa, Kingston, Trenton, Petawawa and/or Montreal area?

Cause that's where his bali gets wicked? (ohhhh....gonna pay for that, but couldn't resist!!  )  you do know that those in the hinderlands of the far west and north have at least heard rumors of someone making up stories and actually printing them so others can read them......

[PuckChaser]

Curious:  why the focus on Ottawa, Kingston, Trenton, Petawawa and/or Montreal area?

Might be a travel cost restriction as Lee seems to need to require face to face interviews and wouldn't be permitted to fly all over the country for it.

[lberthiaume]

In response to Puckchaser, I presumed (perhaps incorrectly) that in order for serving members to speak to me, I had to go through communications so I have put in a request with them for serving members. If serving members set up and do interviews, I'm definitely looking for some of them as well so please don't hesitate to contact me.

And thanks for the tips Milnet.ca Staff. I will take a look at the tips now. As for your question, I'm based in Ottawa and plan to drive to conduct sit-down interviews with those who are interested. (Our budgets aren't quite what they used to be).

Cheers,
Lee

[PuckChaser]

In response to Puckchaser, I presumed (perhaps incorrectly) that in order for serving members to speak to me, I had to go through communications so I have put in a request with them for serving members. If serving members set up and do interviews, I'm definitely looking for some of them as well so please don't hesitate to contact me.

Serving members can speak to the media, however they can only speak on their personal area of expertise within the CF and their personal experiences respecting operational security. We call that "staying within our lane", and it seems like you're looking for just that, personal experiences within the individual's lane.

[lberthiaume]

Oh, almost forgot. Here are a couple links to some past stories I'm proud of:

http://www.canada.com/news/canada-in-afghanistan/Canadian+commander+NATO+Libya+mission+deflects+accolades+well+done/5738579/story.html

http://www.canada.com/news/canada-in-afghanistan/Canadian+army+short+level+leadership+Afghan+mission/5779796/story.html

http://www.canada.com/news/canada-in-afghanistan/Canada+invest+477M+military+satellite+system/5611658/story.html

http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/.2007.august.8.peacekeeper

http://www.embassymag.ca/page/view/pakistan-9-23-2009