Before I got out of the Marine Corps they had accepted a packet for me to become a Combat Illustrator but our retention ended up botching the whole re-enlistment process not once but thrice over so my spidey senses started buzzing and I called it quits. They hadn't given me any official paperwork and just wanted me to sign on the dotted line with their word they would get me that job. Yeah...kinda like how when I signed up the Marine recruiter told me they would get me Combat Correspondent and I ended up in artillery as an RO/FO (radio operator/forward observer). Soon after I got out of the Marines our unit ended up getting orders to fight in Fallujah.
My second day out here in Iraq, I met one of my old friends from C 1/12 Artillery at the chow hall who crossed over to the Army too. That was a nice surprise. We ate lunch together and joked around. His wife and mine gab together on the phone all the time and complain about us. :P
Anyway, here is a rough draft of my work-in-progress. BTW, The 'John Doe' in the picture is actually SPC Jesus Gardner. I made the metal grate and the cloud texture using a program and the actual poster I created in Gimp, which is a free, open-source alternative to Photoshop. The Text-Art was also hand-made in Gimp. While, I do have Photoshop I prefer to use Gimp. Photoshop is a power-horse but I've found that Gimp is a lot more streamlined for a lot of work and after being a long-time Photoshop user it only took me a day to get used to Gimp. I also brought a sweet Wacom Bamboo Drawing Tablet with me. So maybe I'll do some painting too!
Today the 325th Brigade Support Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Brigade Combat Team cased their colors and the 701st BSB, 4IBCT uncased their colors during a ceremony. This is where one units covers their unit flag and the other unit uncovers their unit flag. I talked to some 701st Soldiers and taped some shout-outs while my partner in crime, SPC Shantelle Campbell was focused on getting the proverbial 'money shot' where the Commander of the 701st uncased their unit colors.
There were 12 other Soldiers there with cameras. It was actually kinda funny seeing all those people. We've had problems in the past at official functions where people who weren't with the PAO actually tried to tell us to get out of the way of their shot! No worries though, Campbell got a good position and got her photo.
Our interpreter Nate brought in some delicious bread this morning. It was something sort of like panine bread and it tasted great.
Anyway, time to get editing!
~RC
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