Spc. John Crosby is an Army photojournalist because he wanted to go to war.

"I've always wanted to be a GI Joe," said Crosby as he worked on some recent images in 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team (SBCT), 2nd Infantry Division's tactical operations center.  "And I thought this was a great way to serve my country at war and capture some of it on film," he added.

Crosby's military occupational specialty is 46Q, or combat photojournalist. A member of the 115th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Oregon National Guard, he works for 4th Brigade's public affairs office at Camp Taji, Iraq.

A combat photojournalist's job is to chronicle the actions of soldiers both "outside the wire" and in camp.

"I cover everything from engineers working on roads or looking for IEDs (improvised explosive devices) to combat patrols and the intramural football games we have here," explained Crosby.  "There isn't anything that I don't cover; let's put it that way," he said with a grin.

In addition to the photography, Crosby writes stories.

"That was the toughest part - writing the stories," he added.

When Crosby first entered the Army, he trained to serve as a combat medic, or 68W.  But his desire to deploy and travel led him to reclassify to the 46Q MOS.

"I've been to Japan, Mongolia, and now I am here," continued Crosby.  "And I think I made the right move in reclassifying," he added.

Soldiers in this MOS attend a three-month long school at Fort Meade, Md.  While there, they review the basics of news writing, learn how to write press releases and study different writing styles.

And then they take what they've learned and put it to practical use.

"Yeah, the last six to eight weeks we are required to write and shoot one or two stories a week," said Crosby.  "You know, we do stories on the base barber or something like that, but the practice is good," he added.

But don't be fooled; the work is hard yet rewarding.

"There's nothing easy about going out on a patrol, and all that comes with that," said Crosby.  "But in the end, it is very rewarding work; you can look back and be proud of what you've done," he added.