Soldiers with Cameras Bios

SERGEANT STEPHEN PINK, 24, was born and raised in Kingston, Mass. He went to BC High in Boston, and earned his BA in English from Plymouth State College, where he wrote for the school paper. He joined the military to help pay for college. Here are excerpts from an e-mail he sent Deborah just after deployment:

I joined the National Guard during my second year in College at Plymouth State, because of money. If it weren't for the National Guard, I wouldn't have been able to finish school, so in that lies my allegiance to the New Hampshire NG.

While at Plymouth I worked as a ski instructor at Tenney and Waterville Mountains, and hiked all around: the Lafayette loop and Presidential range are some of my favorites. I ski Tuckerman's every year.

After college, I briefly worked for a local paper in MA. I moved to Cape Cod to take care of my grandmother's house, working as a subcontractor framing houses. You can't beat fishing the canal and living less than a mile from the beach. Although I believe I will end up teaching someday, right now building houses outside satisfies me and is more beneficial, financially. I write and keep a journal regularly. I read a lot of Bukowski, Tom Robbins, Vonnegut.

My girlfriend Lindsay was finishing her last year at Plymouth when I left. She wasn't expecting the deployment but is being strong nonetheless.

Hopefully I will perform well as one of your cameramen and after viewing my footage, please send criticisms. Time is up at the computer lab. 1 tape done. Thanks for the labeling recommendations, otherwise you would have been in "editing Hell"

Best of Luck, SGT Stephen Pink

SPECIALIST MIKE MORIARTY is a Harley-Davidson mechanic who lives with his family in Windsor, N.H., population 201. He is married with a 4 year-old son and a 1 year-old daughter. Here are excerpts from an e-mail he sent to Deborah February 29, 2004:

I am very excited about getting the story to you from our eyes in the real world fashion you are looking for. Thank you so much for providing us with this opportunity to document our experiences for the sake of history.

I am 35 years old, born in Beverly Ma on Dec 1 1969. I joined the Army in 1988 as a Combat Engineer and entered the NG with the 101st Engineers in Ma. In the process of growing older and having come so close to being deployed during the first Gulf war I reached my 34th birthday and could not stand to see another soldier die without being able to do my part. I made the decision along with the amazing love and support of my beautiful wife that I was going to reenlist and volunteer to deploy to Iraq.

After thoroughly searching for a unit whose mission was applicable to my military skills I learned that the 3/172nd Mountain Infantry was activated for duty serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom. I immediately contacted the unit and became a member that week.

All of this is motivated by the common cause of defending our great country and the freedoms that we as Americans live by. It is something I absolutely have to do to ensure the future safety of my 2 perfect children. I love them more than life itself.

On September 11th 2001 I was a changed man. This I will NOT EVER forget. I appreciate my parents. I appreciate my health. I appreciate what I do have. I appreciate every single soldier who has done what I'm about to do. I hope to relieve a soldier who can go home and enjoy life with his wife and children. Whoever he will be, he is my hero.

I will write again soon, Mike Moriarty

SERGEANT ZACK BAZZI is a University of New Hampshire student studying International Affairs and Psychology, and a Lebanese-born American who escaped from the Lebanon Civil War with his family at age 8. Bazzi joined the military to travel and see the world, and has been deployed overseas twice before--in Bosnia and Kosovo with the 101st Airborne. Here are excerpts from an e-mail he sent to Deborah March 3, 2004:

My original name is Zaher Bazzi. I was born in Lebanon, where I spent the first few years of my life. My family immigrated to the US when I was 8 years of age. My mother and I moved to Watertown, MA where I attended middle school then high school. After a mediocre high school career, I joined the Army in 1997. After the completion of Basic Training, I was assigned to the one and only 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

After four great years in the Army, I decided to get out and go to school. I traveled around for a while, and then I lived in Chicago with an Army friend of mine, but eventually ended up back home in Watertown. I worked as a security guard until I got accepted at The University of New Hampshire. I began my current tenure at UNH in the fall of 02. It was then that I found out found out about C co. Not long afterwards, I decided to join the NH guard and was assigned as a team leader in C co. One year or 12 drills later, we received activation orders to go to Iraq.

I see this deployment as another part of my job and not as this super patriotic struggle to protect "our freedom and our way of life." Being a soldier is a fundamental part of my identity. It is something that I love and enjoy doing. Being deployed to go to war that is being questioned back home does not affect my passion for the job. I will do my professional duty regardless of the political context or my personal feelings on the matter.

For hobbies, I enjoy running, working out, hiking and camping and reading a good book. My greatest passion is traveling. I spent last summer in Quebec, Canada where I was able to do a good amount of hiking, canoeing, biking and the highest bungee jump in North America-very fun. For books, my preferred genres are History and Biographies. I recently finished The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris—good read.

Upon my return, I will take some time off and travel and maybe take a couple of odd jobs just for the novel experience. Once I finish my travels, I will return once again to school at UNH and hopefully and finally graduate.