BILL ROGGIO sends a report from Kandahar. Click “read more” to read it. You can also hear an interview with him and with Matt from BlackFive over at Pundit Review Radio.

I’ve safely arrived at Kandahar Airfield (KAF). I had to take a United Nations Humanitarian Assistance flight to the airfield, as the Canadian military does not provide for travel to & from the bases as the Marines/Army do in Iraq. Did you know the UN has its own airline? Predictably, they rake you over the coals on the cost of the ticket. But they do have flight attendants and served sodas! Frankly I would have preferred a free, no-frills flight on a C-130 with the guys…

I would compare Kandahar Airfield to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq: a large, well protected rear operating area (there are about 8,000 troops here. There are Dutch, Canadian, British, French, American, Bulgarian and a host of other countries based out of KAF. The Canadians maintain two other Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) and a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in Kandahar province. I plan on pushing out to the FOBs & PRT as soon as I can, but it may take a day or two. I will get out on some patrols from the base in the mean time. The Canadian military was pleased to discover I actually wanted to go out to the field, as that is the exception, not the norm.

An interesting sidebar on the Canadian military view of the media: They feel the media hangs out at Kandahar Airfield to maintain the “death watch” – waiting for news of soldiers killed or wounded. I spoke to several members of the Canadian media and they freely admitted this, and complained they are prisoners of their media organizations. They have to stay at the airfield to cover news from there, lest they miss this “news”. They can get out on daily patrols from the main base but this is a strain on resources (the death watch would be unmanned). I will say the Canadian members of the media have been very friendly and are interested in what I do. One gentleman gave me a great set of maps which will help with my reporting. They aren’t pleased with being on the death watch.

Combined with the issue of the war not being covered in the proper context and the importance of education, it is for these reasons I believe it is important to be out here.

It’s been relatively quiet around here, so there will be no update today, other than this email. Here is a link to a recorded radio broadcast on Pundit Review radio.My friend Matt from Blackfive is also on the program, and Haditha and Iran are also discussed, as well as Afghanistan.