Amy Schlesing Reports
“An Inside Look Into Life at War”
In November 17 Lecture
Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette staff writer Amy
Schlesing, who was embedded as a reporter with the Arkansas National
Guard’s 39th Infantry Brigade for one year in Iraq, will speak Thursday,
Nov. 17, at North Arkansas
College in the John Paul Hammerschmidt Lecture Series. Her presentation
is entitled, “A Year With America’s Infantry: An Inside Look Into Life
at War.”
The 39th Infantry Brigade was part of the largest rotation of American troops since World War II. The 4,200 soldiers with the brigade rotated into Baghdad in March of 2004 with the 1st Cavalry Division to replace the 1st Armored Division. Schlesing was embedded with them for the entire year in Iraq, until they rotated home in April of 2005, becoming the longest embedded reporter since Ernie Pyle in World War II.
Affectionately called “The Amy of One” by Arkansas soldiers she covered, Schlesing says, “I patrolled with the soldiers, walked with them on foot patrols, rode with them during mounted patrols, and took cover when firefights broke out around us.”
Recently awarded the first Robert S. McCord Award for Excellence in Journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists, Sigma Delta Chi, Schlesing was a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. She is currently on leave from the paper writing a book about life with America's infantry and the evolving role of the National Guard.
Born in Springfield, Mo., Schlesing grew up in the Ozarks and on the shore of Lake Michigan in Manitowoc, Wis. She is a graduate of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and started her journalism career in 1994 as news editor of the Siloam Springs Herald-Leader.
Schlesing will speak and present a slide show at 6:30 p.m. in the Conference Center of the John Paul Hammerschmidt Business and Conference Center on Northark’s South Campus. The event, sponsored by the North Arkansas College Foundation, is open to the public free of charge.
This will be the 13th presentation in the JPH Lecture Series. Schlesing follows astronaut Dr. Jerry Linenger, Sherpa mountain guide Jamling Tenzing Norgay, CIA officers Tony and Jonna Mendez, internationally syndicated columnist Gwynne Dyer, former North Vietnam prisoner of war Colonel Edward L. Hubbard, 1972 Olympic 800-meter-run champion Dave Wottle, FDNY Chief Richard "Pitch" Picciotto, Harrison native and music therapy specialist Dr. Frederick (Ted) Tims, Savant Syndrome expert Dr. Darold Treffert, retired Wal-Mart senior vice-chairman Don Soderquist, “Homeless to Harvard” heroine Liz Murray, and Navy Commander (retired) Scott Waddle of the USS Greeneville as a speaker in the series.