CHR - What to expect from our newsletter!

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Each week, direct to your inbox, I’ll be sending new investigations, updates to ongoing projects or my take on the week’s most important, and often overlooked stories.

I’ve spent decades calling balls and strikes.  This is an exciting, new chapter in my journalism story!

With the first newsletter Thursday, you got a feel for the format.

There are four folders at Catherine Herridge Reports

1. Investigations: Expect a new investigation each month! We will alternate between traditional, long form television investigations and print projects (which can be the preferred format for some topics.)

2. Need to Know: Twice a month, you’ll get my take on the week’s most impactful stories.   In many cases, these are journalistic threads that are overlooked by larger, corporate newsrooms.

3. The DeBrief:  The debrief shares the latest developments on our projects.  We track accountability and impact.  We don’t just pick up a story and drop it. We stay with it!

4. Inside the SCIF: In national security and intelligence circles, a SCIF, or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility is used for classified records and discussions.  Our SCIF is an open forum for comments, criticism, questions and tips.

We are already seeing results from Thursday’s investigation into the largest ballistic missile strike against American forces in US history.

NINE soldiers whose base was attacked by Iran with 11 ballistic missiles in January 2020 have been retroactively awarded the Purple Heart for their injuries.

Between my original report at CBS News in 2021 and Thursday’s investigation, more than 50 Purple Hearts, from which medical and financial benefits flow, have been awarded.

Here are some of their stories.

Andrew Jenkins

When he got the call this week about receiving the Purple Heart, SFC Andrew Jenkins told me, “It didn’t seem real, going on five years since (Iran’s ballistic missile) attack. I felt a weight lifting off of me.”

Jenkins said it’s “bittersweet,” and “I would do everything in my power to help my soldiers because they had been left behind.”

Jenkins is talking about the delayed acknowledgement of their injuries. None of them expected to survive Iran’s attack. Many of them thought they die on January 8, 2020.

Jenkins said the Purple Heart will be life changing for his family. The award opens up tuition waiver programs at many state colleges.

Costin Herwig

Costin Herwig is third generation Army. He said the potential toxic fallout from Iran’s attack on their base in Iraq, documented exclusively in our investigation, was sobering and not surprising.

“It’s kind of scary,” Herwig said. “We lived, ate, slept in it (fallout) for months after we had been blown up. There was no protection gear.”

Based on our reporting, missile 6 had the largest heat signature. Herwig described in granular detail how “I stood in that crater, about 25 meters deep, 30 meters wide. “ Missile 6 is where the contaminated soil was tested.

Herwig described Iran as the “aggressor,“ adding the lack of accountability for the JAN 2020 attack on their base in Iraq, sent the wrong message. “I want to see Iran held accountable. They keep crossing that line.”

Patrick Ben

Patrick Ben said he thought the retroactive Purple Heart award would never come to pass. When he got the call, he said he didn’t “know how to process it,” after their injuries were initially downplayed.

Ben seemed to speak for many of the soldiers we connected with. He said his family is very proud of his service.

From my inbox to yours, see you next week!

Catherine

Inside the SCIF

In national security and intelligence circles, a SCIF or Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility is used for classified records and discussions.

Our SCIF is an open forum for comments, questions, and suggestions for future projects.

No security clearance needed! The floor is yours.

Submit your questions to [email protected]