It's always the little things that come back to surprise a guy.  

    Going back almost five years from now regarding my journalistic work in Iraq in late 2006 and early 2008, while over there several radio stations were in contact with me for in-country information.  That's a good thing if you are an overseas journalist.  No matter what their market size, I tried to accommodate them all. One such radio station was a small community radio station out of Madison, Wisconsin.  I talked on air via satellite phone to them from Iraq a few times.  Then when I returned they were nice enough to fit me in one of their shows a couple times.  

    Long story short, from my experience with said radio folks, I ended up doing some volunteering with them.  I found myself writing news copy for the news readers.  It was a match made in heaven.  I had already done a great deal of innovative writing as it was. 

    The task for me was a simple one; write a couple sentences for a radio on-air news reader to read over the air waves for their news segment.  I suppose the problem for most people aside from some ability to read and write at all, might be the assignment of taking five three-page news releases about any particular issue, off "the wire," and condensing it all down to two or three sentences. 

    If you ever stop to actually listen to radio news, they do this drive-by type information hit with little pontificating, all the time.  For me, at least, it was like taking candy from a baby.  One of my journalist instructors at Madison Area Technical, a salty guy named Mike Irwin, once was so mad at us students for being so long winded, he made us do an article on the back of a business card.  

    Long story shorter, my experience at this type of innovative writing slid nicely into my current work of writing short, to-the-point biographies of Wisconsin military service persons who have been killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.   

    The economy, gas prices, and the demise of my Chevy Geo Metro, all hindering the 40 mile trek to the station, contributed to my ending my volunteer work with said radio station.
 
    I have never ruled out the option of going back to said radio station at some point and writing my news snippets again. 

    It's almost impossible to get fired from a volunteer job. In this economy, if you do get asked  to take a hike from some volunteer gig, that might be a good time to actually listen to people that may be telling you that you are a lost cause. 

   Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job.  Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page  for an ordered chronology.

                            Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
    (each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)

    Army Specialist Scott Thomas Nagorski, 27, Greenfield, Wisconsin, was killed on Tuesday, November 14, 2010, in Kunar province, Afghanistan. He was one of five soldiers killed during a six-hour firefight that began when insurgents attacked their unit with small-arms fire during an operation to clear out Taliban militants and weapons caches near the Pech River in the Watahpur district of Kunar province. Specialist Nagorski was assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
    The Web site militarytimes.com notes the area of the battle where Specialist Nagorski was killed was in the volatile Watahpur valley in eastern Kunar province along Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan. It was part of Operation Bulldog Bite to search out militants and weapons caches near the Pech river.
    Scott Nagorski was born on November 13, 1983. He was a was a 2002 graduate of Franklin High School, in Franklin, Wisconsin. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned that as a young man Scott bought a 1962 Oldsmobile F-85 and fixed it up and brought it to weekly gatherings of hot rod enthusiasts. He eventually sold the car but had hopes of getting another. Nagorski had joined the Army in 2006. The Journal Sentinel went on to say Nagorski died the day after he turned 27. And, four days after his death, Nagorski's daughter celebrated her 1st birthday. Nagorski's maternal grandfather was an Army veteran of the Korean War. Nagorski had re-enlisted in the service. 
    Some Specialist Nagorski's military awards and medals include: The Army Achievement Medal; the National Defense Service Medal; the Iraq Campaign Medal; the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; the Army Service Ribbon; and, the NATO Medal.
    At the time of his death Scott Nagorski was survived by his wife Nadine (nee Zrinsky); daughter Melodie; parents Karen (Jasinkski) and Scott Kurath; father Jeffrey Bignell; sister Nichole Jasinski; grandfather Ernie Nagorski; father-in-law Robert (Tracy) Zrinsky; mother-in-law Laurie (Greg) Brandon; and, step-brother Kyle Bignell.
    Scott Nagorski was laid to rest at Wood National Cemetery near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Army Specialist Scott Nagorski was the 26th Wisconsin military service person to be killed in Afghanistan since October of 2001.

            As of this blog entry's posting date:

    102,013 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
    
    10,119 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    4,477 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    1680 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    931 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011

    32,158 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    12,877 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    107 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    34 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    3 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since October, 2001.

    149 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.

Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org;  Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org

 

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