The eśl course is expected to teach behaviour in real conflict conditions, must be utmost moments,” says writer Marcin Meller about the course scenes for war correspondents at the Centre for Preparation for abroad Missions. In an interview with the December “Polish Armed Forces” he besides explains why in the era of social media the profession of war reporter inactive makes sense.
Marcin Meller (first left): "The emotions I felt during the training were very akin to what I experienced while in the war zone", photograph by the Centre for Preparation for abroad Missions in Kielce
As a journalist, you have repeatedly reported military conflicts – as you admit – the bullets flew over your head, yet you decided to take a course for war correspondents in Centre for Preparation for abroad Missions in Kielce. What gives you the thought of going back to that after years?
Marcin Meller: Actually, it's a communicative that started a fewer years earlier. Bianca Zalewski, writer for Good morning TVN called me. We have known each another for a long time and Bianca, as we know, has a large experience from the front in Ukraine. She said: “Look, there is simply a course for journalists in Kielce, very decent, led by military personnel with mission experience. Would you like to effort it?’ I thought, why not? I no longer go to war, but late I was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the state of Kivu – 1 of the most dangerous places in the world. Then northern Ethiopia, where the war had just ended. However, the final impulse was the 20th anniversary of this magazine – on this occasion we were invited to the programme of the erstwhile leaders and were asked to propose the topics we would like to implement. I remembered about the course – there is simply a lot going on, you can shoot interesting material, and Bianca decided to accompany me with the camera. Besides, I wanted to do it for myself. Times are uncertain. I said, "The Lord God is guarding." And in early September, I was in Kielce.
What did the first days in Kielce look like?
First impressions? Like I'm back in the old days. Housing containers I already knew from the conflict in the erstwhile Yugoslavia. I slept in them erstwhile I worked with the Polish battalion there. quite a few realism, military rigor. But organizationally – perfection. I was only amazed that the food was truly good, although I felt sorry for the vegetarian in our group – for her it was a real conflict for survival... The first 2 days are a theory: safety in the region of action, first aid in the field of combat, intellectual aspects of combat stress. Then we went to practice – survival, the construction of shelters in the forest. I, the old Boy Scout, yet learned to light fire with a flint! We besides had martial arts training.
Marcin Meller: “The bag on the head and the pouring was inactive bearable, it is known that the soldiers did not want to strangle us like in real torture. The worst was cold”, photograph by the Centre for Preparation for abroad Missions in Kielce
For me, the most valuable part was the medical part. Simple procedures – hemorrhaging, wound evacuation, fire-fighting resuscitation – something that can save lives. Besides, I want to proceed this component in further medical courses. due to the fact that in various situations of crisis, you can cope with it through skill, courage, life experience. But where medicine goes, you just request to know. In addition, these are skills that can be useful not only during the war. Just a simple car accident.
What about this celebrated "hijacking"? Anyone who finishes a course in Kielce is talking about him.
Yeah, it's a climax, simulation of abduction and hostage holding. Everyone's heard about it, everybody's waiting, nobody knows erstwhile it's gonna start or what it's gonna look like, due to the fact that all time the script's a small different. We lived in tension for 2 days. There was a minute erstwhile they took us in a truck into the woods. They left, they disappeared, the silence fell. We think, it's most likely now. We started hiding, figuring out how to survive.
After a while, an officer arrives and says, “It’s easy if we want to kidnap you, we will kidnap you—not like this. I was just late.” But then we noticed that 1 individual was missing. The search started. Turns out she truly ran away! The girl ran through the woods and reached the village close Kielce. 1 could say that she was the only 1 who truly avoided kidnapping [laughs].
And what did your interrogation look like erstwhile you were abducted? From my course, I remember that soldiers put quite a few heart into this point of the show.
My script was highly violent. I found “Shakal” – it is the nickname of 1 of the instructors, known for not saving students. The full thing lasted about 3 hours, but that's what I found out after the end, due to the fact that I lost track of time in the process. I didn't know that specified a torture weapon could be just water. The bag on the head and the pouring was inactive bearable, it is known that the soldiers did not want to strangle us as in the course of real torture. The worst was cold. Outside 7oC, I'm in panties and shirts, and they're pouring cold water...
Martin Meller.Photo: private archive
The body barely got utilized to it, they started pouring again. And there's quite a few interrogation. I took it seriously, I tried to respond as if I were truly a hostage – to tell the fact erstwhile I had to, and to lie erstwhile I could. But finally, suspended, sore and shaking from the cold, I fell into specified a state that I stopped saying anything. They asked me a question, I kept quiet, so they beat me on my calves and asked me another question. Finally, my interrogating soldier just wanted to know my age, and I felt like I was starting to delirious.
Didn't you at the time think it was an exaggeration?
On the 1 hand, yes. In Austria and the United Kingdom, psychologists are present for specified courses, who guarantee that they do not exceed the limits of the participants' ability, who care for their welfare. In Kielce, however, it was rough, without a discount tariff. Soldiers empathized in their roles, there was intellectual pressure, very harsh lyrics, besides of sexual origin. But on the another hand, this is what I see as the value of this training. erstwhile you enter the war zone, no 1 will give you a break, they will not say "stop". If the course is to teach behaviour in real conflict conditions, it must be utmost moments.
I besides want to point out that our safety has been taken care of. At any time, we could have utilized a code word that interrupted the training. Besides, we had medical safety all along. Despite the veiled eyes, I could feel the medic checking my blood force and temperature. At 1 point he ordered the end – I ended up in an ambulance with suspected hypothermia. erstwhile the hostages and the kidnappers were at the end of the course, the soldier in the ski mask approached me. "I inactive don't know how old you are," she said. I recognized that voice once.
How do you compare these training experiences with real conflict?
First of all, the emotions I felt during the training were very akin to what I experienced erstwhile I was in the war zone. There was besides quite a few realism in action. adequate that I had flashbacks from my trips, which paralyzed me for moments. We had classes with people truly experienced, practices – for example with a doctor who worked in underground Ukrainian hospitals. possibly all that was missing was the snarling bullets. As a journalist, I've been under fire respective times, and I know how it changes things. Therefore, if I had to add something, it was an component of simulated firing – for example utilizing paintball bullets. We could besides usage a drone training module. It's everyday on the front today, and we journalists should besides know how to defend ourselves from them.
You started as a war correspondent in the early 1990s. Not only did the war look completely different then, but besides the work of a journalist.
It was a full different world, no cell phones, no communications. Contact with the editorial board was a luxury. erstwhile I went to the Caucasus, I didn't even have a bulletproof vest. But that's nothing – there were no soldiers around. It was all like a common move, people dressed like they just left the theater. For the first time I saw specified a “modern” war in the erstwhile Yugoslavia, where I went with Polish soldiers. But it's not like what we're seeing today. It was inactive the 20th century, and conflicts were more like planet War II. We, journalists and soldiers both function in very different conditions than those we see present in Ukraine.
Today the standard is not only bulletproof vests and excellent connectivity, but besides smartphones in the hands of soldiers who broadcast almost live coverage from the front. There are besides quite a few materials that are unverified or fake news. Does it make sense to be a war reporter in this situation?
Soldiers everywhere have the same task: fighting, trying to destruct as many opponents as possible and not getting shot off. That's why, erstwhile I went to war, I was always curious in the civilians most affected by the conflict, looking for the past of people. In Uganda, I visited a facility where children were previously abducted by rebels and trained to be soldiers. After the government took them back, these children needed care. I met with them, talked to them. That's not a communicative a soldier with a telephone will show. The writer is no longer the first and main origin of information, but may be the main origin of reliable, verified information that does not come from 1 of the parties to the conflict. It is besides needed to order chaos, explain, choice material. Therefore, I am not afraid that war correspondents will disappear.
After your course in Kielce, do you think about returning to conflict reporting?
No, it's a closed chapter for me. But unfortunately, I do not regulation out the anticipation that this time this battlefield will come to us. And then the cognition we gained in Kielce may prove invaluable.
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