Dorothy Brush "Random Thoughts" Published Sept. 24, 2003

Press women treated to a host of thought-provoking speakers

Long before hurricane Isabel made a quick visit to Delaware, the National Federation of Press Women descended on Wilmington, DE the first week in September. Hosted by the Delaware Press Association, the annual Communications Conference featured many outstanding speakers. There was Ralph Begleiter who was CNN's world affairs correspondent for many years; Sen. Joseph R. Biden (D-DE), now in his sixth term and Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and Jim Bohannon, anchor of an award-winning nightly radio talk show from Washington, DC.

These thought-provoking speakers were all familiar names but less well known to most of us was the first woman governor of Delaware elected in 2000, Ruth Ann Minner. She brought with her the Attorney General and Cabinet Secretary of the Dept. of Service for Children. Both are women and the Attorney General shares the distinction with the governor of being the first woman to be elected to that position in the state. They appeared at the luncheon honoring award-winning high school journalism students. The trio agreed to a public press conference with questioning led by the young writers.

For three days in addition to these headliners we had to choose from many workshops and panels presented by journalists, all with long and impressive résumés. However, the tone was set at the first general session by the keynote speaker, Jim Axelrod, CBS News correspondent, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather. His topic was "Shocked and Awed: A Journalist's Reflections of Life on the Front." He was embedded with the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry.

This assignment was not a new experience because since 1996 Axelrod has reported from the front lines in Afghanistan, the Balkans and on the hostage crisis in Peru. Just a few days prior to his appearance at our conference, he had received an Emmy for his reporting on the DC snipers.

Personable and young he began by thanking us for asking him to share his experiences because he explained he was still in the process of working through just what his feelings were. As he worked on his talk he said he began to get a handle on those days filled with danger.

Axelrod took us back to 5:30 a.m., Feb. 15, when he said goodbye to his wife, 5-months pregnant, his bewildered 3-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter and hurried to the waiting car at the curb. The last words he heard were from his little daughter as she called between sobs, "Daddy, why couldn't you have been a librarian?"

After three weeks in the Sheraton Hotel in Kuwait City where he and other reporters learned the do's and don'ts of being embedded, they moved to the desert on March 11 to get acclimated to the weather for an 18-day period. He praised his cameraman, a veteran of 28 years, as the "toughest ever." They were given three rules which governed their reporting. Never give away troop movements, reveal any battle plans and never show a dead American before the next of kin has been notified.

Axelrod's group was caught in the sandstorm but he found that freak of nature created a thing of beauty. He said the combination of the sun and sand painted a shade of rose unlike anything he had ever seen.

As they waited impatiently for the march to Baghdad to begin Axelrod's respect for the soldiers was great. He found them well trained and committed to duty even though they were under great pressure as the days passed. He asked a career sergeant how he handled pressures. "I'm as tough as a woodpecker's lips. Pressures? They come with the parking space, man." After that Jim and the veteran continued to visit for about 45 minutes until the sergeant stood and announced, "All right, church is over."

Next week, the conclusion of Jim Axelrod's thoughts on life at the front.

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Dorothy Copus Brush is a Fairfield Glade resident and Crossville Chronicle staffwriter whose column is published each Wednesday.