Favorite Contemporary Military Photo's

Sherman said "War is Hell", I think this picture conveys that statement. One of my son's took this picture of an IED explosion near Sangin, Afghanistan. Note how small the MAT-V's are and an MAT-V is close to 9 feet tall and over 20 feet long.

 

I always thought this photo from the Rocky Mountain News was outstanding.

 

Here's another good photo from the same story (It won a pulitzer BTW). And an excerpt from the story to give it context.

If you want to read the full story it's here:
The Pulitzer Prizes | Works

"Final Salute"
By Jim Sheeler
part (11)


Inside the mortuary the night before Cathey's funeral, two Marines stood near the casket, unfurling sheets on a makeshift bed.
"Make it look nice, dude, make it look nice," one of them said.
"Who are you, Martha Stewart?" the other shot back with a grin.
Another looked at the blanket.
"If you're pregnant, do you get hot or cold?"
One of the Marines who has a child of his own looked at the bed.
"She's going to need another pillow," he said. "Since she's pregnant, she'll need to put a pillow between her legs."
Then they saw car lights outside and took their positions.
Earlier that day, Katherine had told them she couldn't bear to spend the last night away from her husband. She said she would sleep on a pew if she had to. The Marines found her an air mattress instead and promised to be ready.
Arriving exhausted, she almost immediately crawled onto the bed they had made for her. Her stepfather helped tuck her in.
"Do you have another pillow?" she asked. "I need one to put between my legs."
One of the Marines crouched down and asked if they should continue to post guard in the room.
"We can do whatever you want," he said. "We can stay or we can give you some privacy."
"I think it would be kind of nice if you kept doing it," she said. "I think that's what he would have wanted."
After one of the Marines dimmed the lights, Katherine opened a laptop computer on the floor. In the blue glow of the screen, she listened to the songs they would have played at the wedding they never held.
She swayed, then closed her eyes.
As drowsiness set in, she picked up an old T-shirt - the last shirt Jim Cathey wore before changing into his cammies to leave for Iraq. She hadn't washed it. It still smelled like him.
She held the shirt to her face and breathed in.
'Selfish of us to die'
Just past midnight, Staff Sgt. Andrew Price walked to the back of the room and, like a watchful parent, dimmed the lights further. Then he closed Katherine's computer.
For the next hour he stood, barely illuminated by the light behind the altar, until another Marine approached from the shadows, paused before the makeshift bed and raised his hand in slow salute.
As each man was relieved, he walked into a spare room next to the chapel. In the darkness, one by one they spoke:
1:37 a.m. Staff Sgt. Andrew Price
The lanky Marine had stood watch at dozens of funerals at Arlington National Cemetery, but none prepared him for this.
"We would have stayed as long as Katherine wanted us there tonight. Even if she wanted us to go, I would have stayed there for her. I would have walked around in the shadows. Some way or another, we're always going to try to take care of her."
Of all the hours he has walked sentry, the last hour and a half was the hardest.
"It's almost selfish of us to die. James won't have to see her like that. They train us as warriors. They don't teach us how to take the pain away."
2:28 a.m. 2nd Lt. Charlie Loya Jr.
They call him the joker of the group: a massive man with a massive laugh.
"(After Cathey got killed) People would ask me how I'm doing and I'd say, 'I'm fine.' And I was. Then (at the airport) ... we picked the casket up off the conveyor belt and all I heard was Katherine screaming. I thought, 'My wife would be doing the same thing.' Then all I could think about was my son."
When he heard about Cathey's death, he was scheduled to leave for Iraq in two weeks. Inside the room, he realized there were only eight days left.
"(Before Cathey died) people would ask how I felt about going over there. I'd say, 'I'm confident, I'm prepared and my boys are ready.'
"Now I'm f---ing scared."
3:19 a.m. Staff Sgt. David Rubio
"Cat" would have wanted them to laugh, he said, so he did.
"He was the smartest dumb guy I knew. I used to always tell him that. He was just a big oaf. I keep seeing that face, that big cheesy face."
He got up, paced the floor, holding the grin, the way the big oaf would have wanted.
"I got a call from him a couple months ago ... The last thing he said was, 'Mark time, dude. Mark time. I'll see you in the fleet.'
"It just basically means, 'I'll be waiting for you.'"
4:23 a.m. 2nd Lt. Jon Mueller
He looked at the dark wall and thought of the casket on the other side.
"I'm still going to go when they ask me to go. But I also want people to know what I am doing. I'm not a very emotional guy. I don't show emotion, but I know that it's important for people to know how much you care for them. I'm not the kind of guy who can say, 'I love you.' It's not easy for me.
"I'll make it so that my loved ones know that I love them."
5:19 a.m. 2nd Lt. Jason Lindauer
"Cat was doing what he loved. I suppose that makes it a little easier, but ... I called my (4-year-old) son on the phone, and he said, 'Daddy, my friend Cat got killed.' (My wife had told him.)
"I said, 'Yeah, I know buddy. Cat's in heaven.'"
The Marine began to cry.
"(My son) said, 'Well, when's he coming back?'"
He lowered his head.
"I said, 'He's not, buddy.'"
'Angels looking over me'
As the sun rose in Reno, the casinos continued to chime. Diners began to fill. In the newspapers that hit the porches, Iraq had been pushed to the back pages again.
While the city churned, the sun found the building where Katherine Cathey awoke.
"It's the best night of sleep I've had," she said, surprised. "I really slept."
As she sat, wrapped in a blanket, her eyes bleary, she looked at the casket.
"You take for granted the last night you spend with them," she said. "I think I took it for granted. This was the last night I'll have to sleep next to him."
Behind her, the next Marine approached, preparing to take over the watch.
"I feel like they're my angels looking over me," Katherine said.
She placed her hand on her belly.
"Looking over us," she said.

 

One more then I'll quit.

 

Great pics guys! Price my friend, thank you for sharing the pics that shown the other side of glory and shows us how it can end and how the families has to deal with! Another kind of hero´s!!!

 

Price, I've used that photo of the boy receiving the folded flag in several patriotic presentations we've done at our church...Memorial Day, 4th of July, Veteran's Day....they usually do one song (sometimes more) that's patriotic or "thank you to the military" themed. Being the guy who puts the slides together to put the lyrics up on the screen, I have quite a bit of leeway as to what goes in the background. And I didn't really ask if I could, the first time I was handed something like that. Now...to figure out how to do cool moving photos (zoom, panning, etc) in PowerPoint...

 

Excellent photos, guys. I have seen most of them before, but I get that same gut-wrench each time.

 

Almost like a mushroom cloud.

 

I found this somewhere on the inter-webs a long time ago. I thought it was a great shot of the business-end of a carrier.

View attachment 14577

 

Not to sound like s shill for ww2aircraft.net, but check out a similar thread over there (bring Kleenex...you'll need it.) : Some pics of inspiration

 

Biak: Red Skelton's "Old man watching a parade." Young and Old Red Skelton watching a Parade - YouTube
And: Red & The Pledge - YouTube

"Good night, and may God bless..."

Final note: Shamefully so in the disoriented USofA today... I give you Pogo's, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

 

pix don't do the tomb soldiers changing of the guard justice,it is truly a awe inspiring event,i've been to DC a few times and always made time to see it.

 

Agreed, GunBunny. I saw it as a kid, when my troop stopped in DC for a few days on our way to the Boy Scout National Jamboree. Even as a disrespectful, snot-nosed kid (proud to say that I grew out of that. Last weekend. hehehe), I remember it as a very solemn, almost religious occasion. And none of us kids cut up during it.

 

the 1st time i saw it,i was still in high school,the day was cold, freezing rain. and i knew the guys had to be miserable, but you could not tell it from their actions. the 2nd time i saw it i was with a few guys from my unit,and we did walk taller and prouder for the rest of the time we were in DC.

 

I saw the CoG at the Tomb of the Unknowns on my 2nd trip to DC a year after 9/11. It is definitely something one must see in person. Powerfully solemn.

 

This photo took my breath away.
Afghanistan, August 6, 2009
Photo by unit photographer, CW2 Amanda Camden, A/634th BSB

 

This is, and was always my favorite photo.

 

Excellent photos, y'all...I may have to borrow those for a presentation or two.