Iraq - By now, Julie Dermansky is a veteran, the war correspondent she always dreamed of being. A few months ago, Dermansky and videographer Phin Percy were brand new to the experiences of war, embedded with Louisiana National Guard troops in Iraq.
Their trip to Baghdad and Basra came by way of New Orleans. Last year, they began riding with "Task Force Gator," the Louisiana guardsmen who patrolled desolate areas of New Orleans after Katrina.
"From the first night that we road with Task Force Gator, we realized that these were incredible people doing an incredible job," Percy said during a recent phone conversation from Iraq.
Dermansky even published a book, aptly named "Under The Radar," about guardsmen working out of the limelight, but devoted to protecting neighbors in some of the areas hardest hit by the storm.
Just as inspiring to them were stories the men and women in the guard told of time served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Percy recalled, "the talk would go to their training and how they had learned things in Iraq and Afghanistan that they were actually using in New Orleans."
It was Dermansky who came up with the idea of following the troops to Iraq.
"With no real agenda in mind we came over for what was initially a three week trip," explained Percy.
Three weeks has morphed into three months and it has made the pair eyewitnesses to history.
At times, they've helped write history's first draft. On election day in Basra, they were the only western journalists in the entourage of a key Iraqi general.
In recent weeks, Dermansky and Percy have embedded with Blackhawk helicopter units, watched guardsmen ride shotgun on convoys and chronicled the stories of U.S. troops who are helping to rebuild Iraq's tattered infrastructure.
"I just had a really profound feeling the war wasn't in the media much at all and I thought, what can I do to know more," Dermansky said.
Crescent City Connections in Iraq Her first motivation was to bring a gift to the troops she had met in New Orleans, Christmas portraits for the guardsmen and their families back home.
Now, she and Percy are producing a documentary about the Louisiana guard, their work in the desert and in the bayou.
"First, when we got here," said Dermansky, "people were like, 'oh, they're reporters.' They immediately close down. But because we have this relationship with (the guardsmen), we were able to cut through that."
It may also help that they're not focusing on how the war is being prosecuted, but instead are telling stories of individual soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen.
"You can't know anything until you look at it yourself," Dermansky explained. "So, if you come over with too many preconceived ideas and you think you know what's going on and you try to tell that story, you're not gonna get anything from people. "
"We're not interested in whether the war is right or wrong. We just know there is a war and we want to tell what we see."
However, they are also struck by the scope of the war machine and recent progress in stabilizing Iraq.
Dermansky says, with a quick American withdrawal, "You can just see the dominos falling."
Both of them are amazed by how often they meet guardsmen or helicopter crews who were involved in the Katrina rescues in new orleans.
"Louisiana is everywhere," explained Percy.
"Everybody has a story of where they were when Katrina hit and how it affected their lives," Dermansky added. "It's a hugely powerful thing when there's a war, when there's a natural disaster."
As for why they remain embedded with the troops long after they were supposed to come home, Dermansky explained, "we've mixed it up with people who are just so impassioned about what they're doing here.
"Anybody who loves their job is someone I want to talk to because I find it interesting to get the perspective of people who are doing what they believe in."
