30 days through Afghanistan

Tech SGT. Ken Raimondi and Tech SGT. Nathan Gallahan, military journalists of ISAF's Joint Command in Kabul have been travelling around Afghanistan in one month for a web-based project titled "30 Days Through Afghanistan".

“There are so many people in this country who have so much to say, and there’s so much to talk about, that I could have spent 10 years blogging every day and could have found something new to talk about” Gallahan said.

Ken Raimondi added that while “30 Days Through Afghanistan” may have broken new ground in contemporary military journalism, it really represents a return to the personal, frontline interview style of famed World War II reporter Ernie Pyle.

From my point of view, this project represent a unique opportunity to learn first hand (or almost...) about the so many positive stories Afghan people are experimenting. Watching some of the vlogs, it is clear how much efforts the international community is putting in reconstruction efforts for Afghanistan. “There was no approval chain. What we saw, we talked about,” Raimondi said. That is - I think - the major achievement of "30 days through Afghanistan"!

Both reporters said they were gratified to read comments submitted by some of the several thousand followers of the blog, which Gallahan wrote, and the video log postings, which Raimondi produced. Although they would have liked the Web site to have attracted a larger audience beyond the military community, they said, they hope their approach has opened doors for others. I hope YATA Community will contribute in spreading the word.