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This blog chronicles the experiences of Elon journalism major Alexandra Hemmerly-Brown, who was deployed to the Middle East in June 2006 as a member of the U.S. Army Reserves 210th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment. Hemmerly-Brown is from Blue Hill, Maine, and is the daughter of Jane and Daniel Hemmerly-Brown. As a public affairs specialist, Hemmerly-Brown writes stories, takes photographs, produces a newspaper and works with members of the news media. She is scheduled to be stationed in Iraq for about a year, and plans to return to her studies at Elon following her tour of duty. Messages can be sent to Alexandra at: IsisIndy@hotmail.com. Her mailing address is: Spc. Alexandra Hemmerly-Brown, 210th MPAD, Camp Anaconda, Balad, APO AE 09391. July 7, 2007 Sitting at my parent's house in Maine with a good nine hours of sleep under my belt, I'm at a loss of where to start. I think I should offer some sort of closure on my year, and reflect on what I've learned. [full blog entry] May 26, 2007 Great news! Our replacement unit is here, and we are spending these last few weeks training them up and introducing them to what we have been doing all year. We are so excited to have them here because it’s a wake-up call that says we are actually going home! [full blog entry] April 6, 2007 Well, the days are counting down until my return to the States—only a few more months to go! The past month has been a great one and passed quickly, mostly because I was not in Iraq for most of it. [full blog entry] March 2, 2007 January 5, 2007 So the holidays have come and gone, and I am still here in Iraq. Still no vacations, still working. It was a busy time for us journalists, because there were so many events, celebrities, and surprise VIP visits. [full blog entry] December 11,
2006 Thanksgiving in Iraq. Seems like it could be a pretty gloomy experience, depending on the circumstances. Thanksgiving is a time that should be spent with close friends and family... [full blog entry] November 9, 2006 Coming outside of my room, or “hooch” as we fondly call our tiny trailers, the past few days I have been able to see my breath... [full blog entry] October 13, 2006 Well, the three-month mark has come and gone and I know everyone in the States is awaiting the onset of cooler weather, shorter days, and the appearance of ghosts and goblins at the end of the month. Here I find myself missing the fall in the States... [full blog entry] September 23, 2006 Finally I have something to write about- I’ve been on two trips since I last wrote. The first one was to a Forward Operating Base I’d been to once before called Taji. The other was a new one for me- Tallil. [full blog entry] August 30, 2006 Again, it’s been a while since I’ve posted a blog, but unfortunately it is not from me being too busy to write. In fact, it is the exact opposite - I don’t really have any interesting news. I’m really getting used to the daily grind here, and I’m starting to work faster producing news products in spite of continuous assignments piling up on my desk. [full blog entry] August 3, 2006 So, it is August 3 and I’ve been in Iraq just over a month now. It’s funny that it has been that long already, because it seems like I just got here, but, in a month our team has done a lot. [full blog entry] July 24th 2006 So, its been a little while since my last entry, but to be honest, there isn’t anything very exciting to talk about. I did get to go on my first trip outside the “wire,” where I visited Taji (an Army base here), and Baghdad. [full blog entry] July 12, 2006 Hello again! Well, I’m getting a little bit better at this; it’s just been over one week since my last blog entry. I’ve been in Iraq for 11 days now, and I’m starting to get used to it although my schedule is quite grueling. [full blog entry] July 3, 2006 Hello everyone! Yes, I am finally in Iraq, but before I go into that, I want to thank everyone for reading. Since I started this blog I have been receiving an overwhelming amount of emails from perfect strangers- tons of them. It is so amazing to see people reach out like that. I mean, by the time I had posted my first entry, I hadn’t even left the country yet- I hadn’t done anything remarkable. I tried to reply to everyone who wrote me, but it was really hard! So foremost, I want to say THANK YOU to everyone who is reading this and supporting our troops! [full blog entry] June 14, 2006 Disclaimer: These are the personal blog entries of Alexandra Hemmerly-Brown. The opinions expressed are personal and do not reflect any opinion, policy, or position of the U.S. Army. |
