Life with the Lancers
Post categories: BBC News channel, BBC News website
| 14:01 UK time, Monday, 20 December 2010
After a year of filming and collecting material, today sees the launch on the BBC News website of a multimedia special report about UK troops in Afghanistan, Life with the Lancers.
BBC News followed four Army soldiers from the Queen's Royal Lancers regiment, ranging in rank from trooper to major, through pre-deployment training and a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
They were given cameras to gather video-diary material, took stills as well, and talked to BBC correspondents at different stages during the year about their experiences. The Army's combat camera team also provided material.
The idea originally came from BBC Newsgathering producer Annette Bartholomew during what she describes as "a routine job" covering the Queen giving out medals to troops in Catterick: "I asked Fondouk Squadron if they would let us follow them during training. They said yes after getting support from Brigadier Richard Felton."
Our aim was to understand what the daily experience of UK troops serving in Afghanistan is actually like, in more detail than headline news reports allow. The result is a detailed picture of the day-to-day realities of deployment, from training and life in camp to going out on patrol and home leave.
For the soldiers, it has been a chance to tell us what a tour of duty entails for them and their families: the painstaking preparations, the basic necessities of camp life, the dangers of operations and the impact of losing comrades.
For us, it has required collaboration between our video-on-demand team, online graphic designers and journalists, regional specialists, newsgathering reporters and producers and the BBC News Channel, which tonight will start showing the half-hour documentary At War: The Soldiers and their Families.
We are currently working on a follow-up project which aims to look in detail at the experiences of a group of recruits to the Afghan army, the force on which the strategic success of Nato-led forces in Afghanistan may ultimately depend.
Steve Herrmann is editor of the BBC News website. Life with the Lancers can be seen online here; At War: The Soldiers and their Families is on the BBC News Channel on Monday 20 December at 2030 and 2330 GMT.
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~53~RS~)
© MMXI
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
Dear Editor
I won't be remembered at TVC, but I was the BBC TV News Royals Correspondent in the late 1970s. For the duration of 1977, the year of HM the Queen's Silver Jubilee, Brian Hanrahan was the TVC-based link man serving myself, Jim Taylor and Steve Selman who were constantly on the move. I just wanted to add my tribute to those already expressed. We were not to know then what a towering strength in broadcast journalism Brian would become. However, I remember a quiet, modest but thoroughly professional and likeable young man. Among so many towering egos, he never lost his unassuming attitude.Please convey my sympathy to his family.
Regards
Larry Harris
Complain about this comment
The world of broadcasting and journalism is much poorer now that Brian Hanrahan has gone. He was an example to us all.
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
our troops are the most respected worldwide, working alongside some of the best and most respected journalists.... shame we are not very well respected for much else.
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS