International journalists visit Joint Multinational Training Group – Ukraine

Photo By Cpl. Jared Saathoff | Journalist Levi Bridges conducts an audio interview with 1st Lt. Troy Smith, the assistant operations officer of Task Force Juvigny at Joint Multinational Training Group – Ukraine, at Combat Training Center – Yavoriv. (U.S. Army photo by Cpl. Jared Saathoff)  

UKRAINE

12.13.2019

Story by Cpl. Jared Saathoff 

32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team

LVIV OBLAST, Ukraine — Independent journalist Levi Bridges came to document Task Force Juvigny, Joint Multinational Training Group – Ukraine’s operations and personnel at the Combat Training Center – Yavoriv, Dec. 12.
Bridges is the most recent journalist to come to observe and report on JMTG–U operations. Reporters and crews from BBC, NBC, ABC, France24, and various Ukrainian media outlets have visited here over the past month to document training efforts between JMTG–U, NATO allies, and Armed Forces Ukraine partners.
“I always try to look at whose voices are being overlooked and then figure out what other reporters haven’t asked them,” Bridges said. He added that, “every major media organization was sending people to Ukraine to report from here, but I didn’t feel they were telling the story.”
Bridges is an independent journalist based in Moscow. He has produced print, radio, and online products for various outlets including Public Radio International’s “The World,” National Public Radio’s “Radio Ambulante,” The Associated Press, The Washington Post, Russian Life Magazine, and Radio Bilingüe among others. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and was a reporting fellow at the Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley School of Law.
“When Ukraine has been in the American media it’s been about the politics in America; it hasn’t been about the Ukrainians and what is actually happening here in Ukraine,” Bridges said.
Approximately 160 American Soldiers with the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team headquarters company of the Wisconsin Army National Guard are deployed to Ukraine as Task Force Juvigny and assumed responsibility of the Joint Multinational Training Group – Ukraine mission at the Combat Training Center – Yavoriv.
Task Force Juvigny, along with NATO allies: Canada, Denmark, Great Britain, Lithuania, and Poland are in Ukraine to aid and support Armed Forces Ukraine’s training abilities along with increasing NATO interoperability with Ukraine.
“I felt Americans didn’t know much about Ukraine, and with all of the current attention on Ukraine because of what’s going on in Washington it seemed like a good time to try and show Americans what life is like in Ukraine,” Bridges said.
As of the publication of this article, Bridges anticipated that the radio story he is producing would be published early next year.
Several other news organizations are currently in the process of scheduling visits early next year to report on the JMTG-U at CTC-Yavoriv, including reporters from TF – Juvigny’s home state of Wisconsin.



Cpl. Jared Saathoff is the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team’s public affairs NCOIC and is currently deployed with Task Force Juvigny in Ukraine. Cpl. Saathoff regularly covers and documents Joint Multinational Training Group – Ukraine activities and training. If you want to know more about JMTG–U follow us on social media @JMTGUkraine @32ndIBCT @7thATC

• Date Taken: 12.13.2019
• Date Posted: 12.21.2019 02:42
• Story ID: 356882
• Location: UA