The power of a picture, for good and bad
Published: January 6, 2012
The following is part of an occasional series of guest columns highlighting the work and concerns of veterans groups. Matt Colvin is the Strategic Partnership Fellow at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. He spent six years in the Air Force, serving two tours in Afghanistan, flying over 100 combat sorties and liaising with air and ground assets to coordinate raids.
“A picture is worth a thousand words.” The origins of this phrase are debated, but its meaning is clear. There are only two photos that come to mind when I hear this phrase quoted: the photo of U.S. Army Maj. Mark Bieger holding a bloodied Iraqi child titled “Little Girl,” and a photo I took of the sunrise on July 4th while flying a combat mission in Afghanistan.
“Little Girl” was taken by Michael Yon and first published on May 14, 2005. I know this date by heart because I was on my way to Afghanistan when I saw this image on the front page of a newspaper. “Little Girl” remains seared in my memory and has become a symbol, at least to me, of the duality of war.
Our troops are cut from a mold that was forged by generations of warriors who came before us, and are trained to work with lethal precision to carry out their objective. The other side of this duality is our inherent emotional response to the atrocities on display and the agony of lost innocence.
As I ponder the quote further, more images seem to flood in; the first picture to surface showing flag-draped caskets returning from war, the toppling of a statue of Saddam Hussein, and the cover of The New Yorker erasing Osama Bin Laden’s face. There is such powerful imagery abound in this era of embedded combat journalism — and now a new photo conjures more than “a thousand words” and does more to further the civilian/military divide in an already volatile environment for the military.
As the war in Iraq “ends,” Dover Air Force Base mishandles remains of our fallen, a new stain on the military’s legacy has surfaced. On Dec. 13, the Air Force Times published a picture of “15 airmen posing with an open casket, in which another airman is posed with a noose around his neck and chains across his body.”
When I first saw this photo, my stomach churned in disbelief, and I couldn’t help but tear up thinking of how our fallen’s families would react and how much further the Air Force could fall into public embarrassment. The Air Force is MY legacy, along with millions of others since becoming an independent branch of service in 1947. I joined the USAF on September 11, 2001, and fully understood the implications of my decision. All the halfwits posing for this photo most likely joined post-9/11, and knew that their decision could possibly land them in the very casket they now mocked.
The men and women I served alongside for my six-year career, including two tours and over 80 combat missions in Afghanistan, understood the gravity of their decision to serve. Flying on a crew of seven to 10 personnel as we did for our missions, our credo was “fly together, die together.”
This is the ultimate embodiment of the brotherhood that I came to know in my career and still carry with me today. However, today, my heart aches for my beloved branch and more so for the families whose loved ones didn’t return home of their own accord.
I think back to multiple flight-line stoppages, where all air traffic in and out of base is held to pay proper respect to the fallen. This is the most silent the bases in Afghanistan ever got, with only the constant whir of generators in the background. Under the most star-filled sky a person could ever hope to imagine, I remember saluting convoys of Humvees carrying a single, flag-draped casket to a C-17 for their Angel Flight home. This was an all-too common occurrence, and allowed me some of the most profound moments of reflection I will surely have in my life.
This photo screams incompetence from the top brass down to those posing in such utter disrespect. “Da Dumpt, Da Dumpt…It Sucks 2 Be U” is scribed along the bottom of the image, and only drives the knife of disrespect deeper. I’m sure during the investigation, the intent of the photo will come to light along with the meaning of its morbid phrase, but none of this will matter because the damage is already too widespread. A comment on AirForceTimes.com from military widow Deedy Salie captures a sentiment that will surely resonate through all of the military branches and those affected by these wars.
“HOW DARE YOU! My husband came home in one of those boxes, not on his own two feet like these disgraceful people will. You not only offend my husband [Sergeant First Class] David J. Salie, but his children, his wife, his family..........Hell, the entire nation. SHAME ON YOU.”
While part of me says discharge all of those that are involved in this image, I cannot help but think there is something to be learned here, as well. As a former noncommissioned Officer in the Air Force, I knew that each misstep by a subordinate required disciplinary action, but also provided key learning points for the future. This is a time to learn that the actions of few affect the whole, and that when a person puts on the uniform he or she represents a long illustrious history of keeping America free. The uniform is larger than you and I and must be treated as such.
Somehow, that was forgotten in all of this.
What the heck is a Ruptured Duck?
