Learning to Be a Media Specialist—from Iraq
This article originally appeared in SLJ’s Extra Helping. Sign up now!
Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 2/15/2006
Bruce DeWitt (left) gives Brigadier General Wissler a tour of one of the new military dining facilities in Iraq that his company helped build.
Bruce DeWitt (left), gives new meaning to the term, "distance learning." He’s working in Iraq while studying to be a media specialist. Dewitt has spent the last three semesters enrolled in a distance-learning program at the College of St. Scholastica (CSS) in Duluth, MN. "One time he was online with me and said he had to go because they'd just been hit by four rockets," Marie Kelsey, program director of the college's Educational Media and Technology program, explains. SLJ spoke with DeWitt about balancing his studies and work—and whether he still wants to become a school librarian.
What are you doing in Iraq?
I work for the evil empire Halliburton through their subsidiary KBR. I'm a camp manager. I run a marine base in Western Iraq. I manage the direct activities of 150 personnel and am responsible for the life support and safety of over 600 expat personnel and 1,500 third-country nationals. We provide all of what's called the life support on the base. That involves all the power, water, and prepared food for 8,000 soldiers and marines.…We just served our two millionth meal to a lucky marine… last week.
How dangerous is your job and do you ever get to incorporate your library experience?
We operate in a very hostile environment with very long lag times for supplies and equipment to arrive. So we often have to improvise solutions to repairing items and building things with scrap materials.
I was involved in creating a library service here for the marines that has a couple thousand donated books that's very popular and is a part of what's called the MWR program. That stands for Morale, Welfare, and Recreation. Books sustain thousands of soldiers here. There are collection and exchange points at all "airports" and MWR facilities.
Being here is mostly boring down time for soldiers punctuated by moments of extreme stress. Books sustain folks during the down times and offer some escape. I need to pass on the passion for reading that I see on a daily basis [to] kids that just take [it] for granted.
Did you enroll in the distance-learning program before going to Iraq?
Yes. I knew I would have down time and the online program would work well—was I mistaken! Our Internet access was very limited for the first year, and I work consistently seven days a week—90 hours a week for up to four months at a time.
I fit in what I can study at night. I have a very understanding professor—Marie Kelsey at CSS! She enjoys hearing the stories of the war from me, especially when we are facing what's called "indirect fire." Two to three times a month our base faces a rocket attack, which is very disconcerting.
Rockets have landed within 100 yards from where I work, so consequently, I spend a lot of time in what we call the hardened shelter. It's from here at night that I log on to do my work.
What made you interested in becoming a school librarian?
I was a varianced media teacher in Minneapolis and got hooked. However, I was laid off due to the variance and rather than head back to teaching English as a Second Language, I signed up with KBR and was called to leave right after the school year ended in 2004.
I bet it's not as exciting as being in Iraq.
Getting in and out of Iraq is a challenge. I have to take two helicopter rides and four days to get out. I usually have a trusty textbook with me on the ride to catch up on.
Several months ago, however, I inadvertently got on a "milk run" chopper ride that took me all over and picked up blindfolded insurgents who sat next to me on the frigid ride all over God's creation until we dropped them off at a prison. Again, very disconcerting.
Can you tell us about one of your close calls?
Last year, you'll recall we took Fallujah in a long, heated battle. Before that time Fallujah was fond of lobbing 122MM rockets (six feet tall) at our base. They are not accurately aimed but were clearly timed at night and moving towards our chow hall.
Consequently, I stopped eating dinner as one landed outside the DFAC (dining facility) and injured three marines. It was during this time that four rockets landed in the camp and I, along with 30 colleagues, spent the night in hardened shelter.
Later that week, we took Fallujah over and the rocket attacks stopped for several months. However, the greatest risk we face is from vehicle safety. The uparmored Humvees are not safe at all and we give them very wide births.
Do you still want to be a media specialist?
I was thinking about giving up the program last year, as the intricacies of Dewey and cataloging were getting the best of me, but my experience with the private sector has sort of soured me. Although I make triple tax free of what I made teaching, the business world can be way too inhumane at times and I miss the humanity side of teaching. Although I did have to extend a second year to pay my CSS tuition!
