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2005“THEY DON’T LIKE civilians around, especially journalists Don’t take it personally,” Jaz whispered as we followed the lieutenant who had said no more than three words to us since we arrived on base Two of which were ‘no photographs’
He’d taken us directly to base commander, General Maunder, who reiterated the no photos rule, and that we, under no circumstance, were allowed to walk around base unsupervised He also told us we’d leave for the orphanage at 0600 Then he ordered the lieutenant to take us to meet Corporal O’Neill
The strict for to helpof my stomach I was in a war-torn country on a military base where I was obviously not welcoe where I’d spend the next month
Yeah, I was nervous as hell
Jaz nudged my elbow and slowed “It’ll be fine”
I nodded “Yeah, I know” But I didn’t know Jaz did because he’d been doing this for twenty or more years I’d never been out of Colombia
We passed row after row of enormous canvas tents when finally the lieutenant stopped abruptly at a clearing where six shirtless, uys jostled one another for a ball
“O’Neill will be free in a minute Wait here, please,” the lieutenant ordered, then spun on his heel and walked to a guy who stood watching the ga to him, nodded in our direction, and then disappeared into a nearby tent
“Get your camera, but discreetly,” Jaz said “I can do a sideline story”
“The commander told us no photos”
“You want to be good at this, you need to take risks and get the shots no one else does”
Jaz had reported all over the world in dangerous environments, whether it was from natural disaster or war I was like a shiny new car who had never been driven off the lot and gotten her tires dirty But the lot hadn’t exactly been safe and I’d been exposed to the ele lord named Carlos Moreno
I was here to escape the unwanted attention of Carlos and the only reason I obtained this position was because rapher broke his leg the week before they were supposed to leave
“I’h risk and I really don’t want one of these guys angry at raphs of hotfootball or as they’d call it soccer Still, I couldn’t help but look at the guy who currently had control of the ball