Journalists honored for ‘Forgotten Warriors’ series

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Times database editor Doug Smith, photographer Francine Orr and former Times reporter T. Christian Miller have been recognized by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) for their stories on the plight of civilian contract workers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

IRE gave the three its online reporting award for work published jointly by the Los Angeles Times and ProPublica, where Miller is now a senior reporter. Also cited for their contributions were Pratap Chatterjee, a freelance journalist, and Avni Patel of ABC News, which aired broadcasts based on the reporting.

Miller began work on the project while still at The Times, and after his departure he continued to collaborate with Smith and Francine. Smith provided data analysis, and Orr traveled across the United States and to the Philippines to illustrate the subject in photos.

The work, published in The Times as a series of occasional articles titled “Forgotten Warriors” and at propublica.org under the heading “Disposable Army,” focused on civilians hired by the Pentagon to drive trucks, cook meals and perform other support services in the two war zones. The IRE judges said the reporting was “remarkable for its depth and complexity in digging into the American government’s shabby treatment of the contractors who were injured like soldiers but have had to battle for basic care and benefits.”