On Dec. 1, Army Sgt. Kenny Scott of Los Angeles, Calif., wrote home and his e-mail made its way to relatives in John Day, uncle and aunt George and Susan Sintay of John Day. Sgt. Scott is the son of former John Day residents Ken and Carol Scott, who now reside in Esparto, Calif., where he is involved in Ken Scott Realty.

Sgt. Scott, an Army Reservist, has been in Baghdad for two weeks and his e-mail reads, in part: “We are starting a radio station [Freedom Radio Iraq] with eight hours of broadcasting a day. The rest of the time will be an Army radio station from Germany that we receive with a satellite dish and rebroadcast now. We work long hours with no planned days off, although we may revolt and get a day off sometime in the near future – four days a week, maybe! then I will gather information and write stories and record my voice for spots (commercial-like items) and readers (FYI spots). We will play adult contemporary. We did not get to choose. We will also videotape stories and press conferences. If you watch CNN and they have a live press conference from Baghdad, it is right next to where I work and my camera is right next to theirs most of the time. We will broadcast press conferences live over the radio, too. I think it will be fun at times, despite the fact that it is a lot of work.

“We are 11 hours ahead of Pacific Time. I can call the U.S. for free, but we try to keep our calls short. … We stay in a palace, the main one that Saddam stayed in. It has ballrooms and great food. … I live in a big party tent with a loud generator outside and the 12 of us all have bunk beds and share a TV and DVD player. … Love All. Army Sgt. Kenny Scott.”

Susan Sintay said Kenny is employed by Disney as a camera/media/editing technician. He has been in the Army previously, but stayed in the reserves. They were called up as a broadcast battalion, which they established for the U.S. Army. He has a wife and two children who live in LA.