This in from MTV News exec producer Jim Fraenkel:

For those of you who’ve been following our “Idol In Iraq” series here at Newsroom, here’s a little bit of backstory about Private First Class Nathan Puckett — the 19-year-old soldier who made our weekly “Idol” installments happen.

Nathan came to the attention of MTV News strictly by chance…through my Facebook account.

About three months ago, I received a friend request from Nathan. We had no friends in common, so after accepting, I asked why he’d reached out to me. He told me that I looked like someone who had been in “a military class” with him. “Looks like I’m wrong,” he concluded. “Anyways, how’s New York? I’ve never been. After I get out of Iraq, I’m probably gonna try to visit one of my friends up there.”

The two of us struck up a friendship online. Our stations in life, it seemed, couldn’t have been farther apart, geographically or otherwise: I was the executive producer of MTV News, while Nathan had enlisted in the Army “right out of high school.” But we soon discovered common ground…

As it often does, my Facebook status back in early March reflected my views on “American Idol,” a show I’ve followed obsessively since Season Three. “Jim is kind of in love with Brooke White,” it read the day after the Arizona native’s raspy take on Pat Benatar’s classic, “Love Is a Battlefield.” I got an email from Nathan the following day: “Brooke White did awesome this week!!” This threw me off: “Do you guys get to watch over there???”

As you all know now, it turns out they do watch “Idol” in Iraq, albeit a day late and in conditions far less cozy than most Americans. “Haha, we have ‘American Idol’ days,” Nathan wrote, “where a bunch of us get together around our small TVs…We also bet on who we think is going home after each week…I’ve been pretty dead-on so far.”

And so our recurring “Idol In Iraq” series was born.

The feature was a quick hit. The soldiers certainly generated a lot of attention with their second installment and, after criticizing one of David Archuleta’s wobblier performances, had to endure the wrath of the young frontrunner’s intense online fan base.

But PFC Puckett got a friendlier welcome last week when we here at MTV News had the privilege of meeting the young soldier face to face. After serving nearly eleven months in Iraq, Nathan was granted a three-week leave, allowed to return to the States to see his family and his friends. After a short stay in his hometown of Cynthiana, Kentucky — sometimes referred to as Cyn City — Nathan hit the road with his younger brother in tow. Destination: the Bamboozle fest. A trip to the Meadowlands in New Jersey (a ten-hour drive) was a birthday gift for brother David who had just turned 18, and a welcome change of scenery for PFC Puckett.

So too was MTV HQ, in the heart of Times Square. Nathan had never been to NY before and when we found out he’d be less than ten miles away, we sent a car for him and his brother. We wanted the chance to shake his hand and thank him for his service — both in Iraq, of course, and in Newsroom!

Watch the clip above to see Nathan’s first visit to NY, and MTV.

PFC Puckett returns to Iraq in just about a week, in time to review the “Idol” finale for us. We here at MTV News, once again, want to thank him and his fellow “Idol In Iraq” soldiers — PFC Joshua Miranda, SPC Cory Combs, and SSG Steve Cody — for their service to our country.