Ground Support Work in Progress

One of the main goals of this project was to capture and represent my friends and colleagues who have served overseas. So many friends have committed and sacrificed their time, sweat and even their blood in places like the mountainous Balkans and the sandpits of central Asia. Mike Scott is one of those guys who has seen and done it all.

Mike started his career at the Royal Westminster Regiment and has served pretty much all over the world. He has been a huge backer of my project and provided both material and logistical support. It was his body armor Shaun and I wore in country and he got us access to areas we normally would have been shunned from. Most importantly his insight into the war, Canada's involvement and the humor of the entire mission was absolutely key to getting the full picture.

Mike also has the coooooolest job in the Infantry. Mike is a door gunner on a Griffon helicopter. As mentioned in a previous post, Mike spent time with us and allowed Shaun to take some great photos. These photos are being used on my current piece which I'm tentatively calling 'Ground Support'.



I'm also incorporating some of Shaun's brilliant prose into this painting. In fact, he's written a piece specifically about Mike and his high-speed job:

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Turning and turning
High overhead,
The Falcon,
Fierce, patient

Awaiting the falconer….

And when he calls
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world

The guns o' the enemy wheel into line…

What fury be called,
When our word
Is the ‘breath of Allah’

Shaun James O'Mara,
copywrite 2011

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Reports and Returns

Last week I started turning in my kit to the regiment. I've seen enough people perform this exercise in front the Regimental Quartermaster to know the routine but it still felt very... wrong? Maybe just weird.

I also have been working on an idea of incorporating more 'experiential' subjects into my paintings. This is an idea I've had for a while where the painting is less allegorical and more blatant. I think it might be crude and not very subtle, but its worth exploring. I seem to be doing a lot of that on this project. The story is simple and maybe a bit overplayed. Its about a soldier deployed who is working on his reports and has a recent letter from his wife open on his desk. In fact, the entire tableau is his desk: a map, reports and returns, his side-arm and a photo of his wife. Everything is in black and white expect the photo of the wife.


I say this is a bit hackneyed and out of date because with Afghanistan, the soldiers can pretty much talk to their family whenever they want. They get set time for calls, there is skype, email, Facebook and to be honest most of the people we talked to said they're in constant contact with their family. I guess, if anything, this painting will be an homage to that time before communication became so easy and readily available. And, despite the easy access to loved ones, the same old problems still exist: breakups, sickness, debt, bad report cards. As with any other war, small problems from home have a way of magnifying as they travel the distance between there and deployment. Maybe its that constant awareness that causes some of the stress (ignorance is bliss). These small problems cause huge hurt to the people who cannot just get on a plane to come home to deal with it. No, they have to stay on task and live with it. But some soldiers cannot always find ways to live with these stresses and thankfully, even less find the solution at the end of their side-arm.

Images on Walls

Its now been a couple months since coming home from Afghanistan and the real world (the life I live outside of painting) has caught up to me fast. New jobs, new places, new people and many of the same old stresses in life: paying mortgages, bills, kids school and a host of issues that challenge ones grip on what is normal in life. And that is normal I guess.

I have dreamed of Afghanistan (or something like it) a couple of times and I catch myself reminiscing about the place . Kind of sick for sure because there is little about the country that endears itself to me. While it has not invaded my dreams in any troubling ways I have found it to enter my thoughts quite a bit. In my job I have to come up with creative ways to solve problems for the businesses that employ me. Whether its solving a problem with a painting or a software process I start by just letting my mind wander... not hard for me as I tend to daydream constantly (even writing this I drifted off a few times :) I turn off my mind, clear it of thoughts or distractions and eventually images and ideas will form from very mundane subjects. Clouds, concrete walls, carpet or whatever is in front of me at the time. At work, I look out the window and stare at the wall across form my office downtown and odd visuals come into play. Lately, even when I'm working on a specific business process sometime the afghan imagery slips its way into my day. Islamic graffiti on walls (5th floor walls albeit), soldiers faces made out of snakes and landscapes.... so many landscapes. Some of these I need to jot down because I think I might use them. Some are a little dark and I'm not sure how or why I'd want to paint them.

All of them remind me that I still have unfinished work.

April 7, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Insert from Shaun O’Mara on his trip north:

Today I got a last minute invite to take the last seat on a Blackhawk to the north of the country to document the latest Afghan National police Academy graduation with an American Marine Colonel. I jumped at the chance, offered condolences to Bair, grabbed cameras and went out to the ramp.

There was no Colonel to meet, the graduation wasn’t that day, there were in fact four seats left and the American photographers were getting territorial. However, when two Blackhawks pull up like taxis outside the Roxy at closing time – do you really care where and with whom we’re going?!

We flew fast and low out of Kandahar and gained altitude the further north we went. I was met at the American FOB by a fresh-faced Californian girl (who also happened to be a sergeant – aren’t they all?) to my VIP room in the desert ghetto.

The following day I met up with a Stryker patrol (American armoured vehicle with 7.62 and a 20mm canon crewed by four.) The crew was hospitable enough, but seemed to lack operational maturity compared to our exceptional Canadian crews (we almost drove over some locals due to communication difficulties.)

Watching the northern town fly by through the sight picture screen of the 20mm, we arrived with only one near fatality at the newly appointed police academy (staffed by USMC mentors.) Watching the recruits hold an AK in one hand and a Qu’ran in the other screaming out their oaths was almost as surreal as the Afghan marching methods (think Russian troops being trained by the Ministry of Silly Walks.) I was left with the mild feeling that vampires had been left in charge of the local bloodbank; and since it was ‘man-love Thursday’ and the convoy was leaving and no-one knew how I as to proceed from this desolate northern town prone to riot where they play croquets with the heads of foreigners – I decided to hitch a ride back with my previous hosts.


Having missed a horrible dinner in the US DFAC I consoled myself to eating soft serve ice cream on top of the rocket bunker watching the hazy Afghani sun sink into the hills (that Hannibal, Alexander, Attila, the British, the Nazis and Soviets all failed to conquer) thoroughly convinced that at any minute I was going to get jacked sky high for my slovenly and ill-disciplined behavior.

A colonel greeted me a good evening and a over zealous Presbyterian pastor was the only one who invited me down ‘frum thar’ to attend a service that was touted as ‘Lively with Christ!’


GOB BLESS AMERICA! AND AFGHANISTAN! (I hope the hard fought contest for kookiest country on earth is settled soon…..)

SJO

Splitting Up the Team

April 6, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Shaun was sent off today up north to photograph an ANP (Afghan National Police) graduation ceremony. Not quite enough room for the whole team and in those instances, the photographer goes, (my rules.) For myself I went out to the EME compound to watch the vehicle techs work on LAVs and trucks. The unit SgtMaj greeted me and gave me the grand tour of their new facilities. It’s a pretty huge shop with all the latest gear and its was actually pretty cool to watch the team drop in LAV engines. The techs didn’t really like having me around taking pictures and I had at least 3 different people come up and ask me not to take photos of them or what they were doing. In the past I would take the time to explain I was not media (despite my ID) and that what I was actually doing was trying to create a legacy of their effort. Honestly, I just didn’t feel like going through the effort. They gave me stink-eye and I just kept taking photos in spite of their scowling.

Despite the lack of support from the techs, I have a great plan for a painting about the EME’s effort over here and coming to their shop and getting some detailed pics is a great start. I know typically the war effort is seen as the pointy end of the spear and as a former infantry guy, I also tend to also only see that side of it. This is inaccurate, non-inclusive and does not represent the Canadian war. At least 3 of the 10 paintings I’ve committed to will represent the support elements of the war: EME, cooks, medics ect. It might not be grand or heroic but this place would grind to a halt without these people supporting the mission. They need to be represented and remembered.


Shaun is gone for the night and I expect him back tomorrow sometime. Sending him off on his own isn’t really part of the plan (we’re suppose to support each other) but we need to jump on these opportunities. As predicted, getting based out of KAF has really slowed us down. Its unlikely we’ll be allowed to get back out to the FOBs due to operational demand. Nothing we can do so we’ll continue to mope around this base of 30,000 people and jump on any chance we get to get back outside the wire.

April 5, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Today we have a day off. Well, kind of. Basically, the Public Affairs Office (PAO) has nothing for us so we stood down and took it easy for the day. I still got up at 6am (I’m not sure why I can’t sleep in any more) and came down to the media tent to get some work done. I let Shaun sleep in because I’m sure the ride out from the FOB the night before shook something loose.

The media tent is pretty basic. It’s almost a piece of history unto itself as the all war correspondents have worked out of here for the last 6+ years. Every reporter seems to have left stuff here and the place is littered with old helmets, body armor, hard cases for video cameras and even racks of video boxes. Its dusty but everything here is dusty. I had to scrub down the desk I was working at because based on the dust accumulated, you’d think nobody had sat there for 30 years. Nope, that’s just Afghan dust. The reporters in the media tent are a quirky bunch. Matthew Fisher from Canwest is gruff, outspoken and swears like a former soldier. And he’s also brilliant, professional and extremely knowledgeable about the war. He is Canada’s most seasoned war correspondent and has covered every war, conflict and engagement in recent history. It was an honor to meet him. Tara Brautigam is a staff correspondent with the Canadian Press. Great guy and I appreciate him sharing his space and faux beer with us. We also hung out a bit with Jeff and Crystal from Global. Great people one and all. Thanks again for your hospitality.


I know we’re not media but it’s been fun to be treated as a reporter, at least up to the point where you have to interact with the soldiers. When they think you’re media they tend to be apprehensive and aloof and rightly so. Although the media has been generally supportive about the war, soldiers remember Somalia. They know that when the media is around they have to be on their best behavior and present a positive picture regardless what they think. When we explain to them that we’re not really media and that our project is about document the real experience (their experience) then they tend to loosen up and let us in on all the good stuff: stories about their experience, what they’ve seen and done ect. Its not newsworthy but it is story-worthy and that fits with our goals.

Shaun makes the best use of his time finding everything and anything to photograph including some great photos of the base graffiti. Brilliant stuff. I’ve created a couple of decent little watercolors so far and I’m hoping to do a few more with my down time in KAF. I predict a lot of down time in KAF…

Road Moves

April 4, Kandahar, Afghanistan

Unfortunately we’ve had to move from our FOB in the South Panjwai area back to Kandahar Airfield (KAF). I’ll state that we did this under protest as our goals cannot be attained back in the confines of the main base and to date we’ve received nothing but support and encouragement from the leadership on the FOBs. This was a logistics issue only and after it was explained to us (a couple times) we packed up our belongings and waited for the Combat Logistics Patrol (CLiP) back to KAF.

Our trip in was via Chinook was fast and efficient: the trip out was via road-move and it was hot, long and bone-rattling. Canada uses ‘people-pods’ to move troops on the ground in southern Afghanistan and its best to describe this mode of transport as odd. We’ve moved about a fair bit in the back of LAVs and TLAVs which are confined but with the hatches open, provide some relief. The people-pod is a sealed, armoured sea-can on the back of a large (24 ton?) truck (Mike B will be sure to correct my truck-ignorance). Basically you’re sealed into a large can on the back of a truck, on convoy from the FOB back to KAF. I can’t give specifics but the ride ranges from 2-6 hrs… Oh, and the air conditioning in the tuna-can was broken and Shaun was having an active bowel day. Yes, it was that kind of trip.

  

Shaun did not enjoy this ride and in all honesty, neither did I. The poor Airforce SSgt beside Shaun REALLY didn’t enjoy the trip but again, that probably had as much to do with the smell coming from Shaun as the boat like motion of the pod. We had a short stop at another FOB and managed to get into KAF late the same day. Our handler Sgt R met us at the depot and got us to our lines which we’re really thankful for as we had no idea where we had landed. The Public Affairs group here runs a tight ship and thanks to people like the good Sgt, we’ve always had somebody here to point us in the right direction when we hit the ground all discombobulated.

We ended out day with a walk on the boardwalk. It’s a bit surreal to be out in a FOB at the start of the day and having chicken strips in a TGI Fridays at its end. Welcome to Afghanistan.