This weeks Award of Excellence cover story on Col. Gregg F. Martin, chief Army combat engineer in Iraq, was reported and written by Associate Editor Tom Sawyer. Sawyer had become intrigued about the work of combat engineers when he reported on the emergency construction of runways in a remote corner of Afghanistan in 2001.
The engineers role in the troop buildup in the Persian Gulf was the obvious follow-up. The now-famous media embed program of the Dept. of Defense allowed reporters to do just what Sawyer had in mind. Tom made his way to Kuwait with a helmet bought at a Manhattan Army Surplus store and a ballistic vest borrowed from a state-trooper inlaw. He was mustered into the Armys 130th Engineer Brigade and dropped into its headquarters command tent as Martin and his staff were furiously engaged in preparations for the invasion.