From Rolling Stone: The Face of the War in Iraq
After reading Stlo7’s piece, yesterday, about another year/another milestone, I read this story in Rolling Stone and felt compelled to show this picture and direct others to the story.
This photo of Blake Miller, a Marine from Jonancy, Kentucky, was taken during the battle of Fallujah. Although it was a shot that was supposed to portray the horrors of war, the image was used as a symbol of triumph. Paul Reickhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, says this:
“There’s almost too much in that picture to talk about,” says Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq vet and the executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. “He’s the gritty patriot who is willing to sacrifice everything, the poster child for the tough Iraq War hero. It’s one of those pictures that is vague enough so you can manipulate it into whatever you want it to be.”The best way to understand the photo, Rieckhoff suggests, is to put it next to a picture of Miller now. “That’s a fair way of understanding that war is not what just happens over there — that when we come home, there is a whole other fight we have to deal with. That’s the part of the fight when nobody takes pictures, and it’s hard to get people’s attention, and it’s hard to get resources.”
Blake suffers from PTSD. As many as 500,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan will suffer from PTSD or some other form of psychological injury. But, our Vets are not getting the help that they need from the government. They just fall off the radar screen. We know that the casualty count is now over 4,ooo, but has anyone counted how many have died from complications of PTSD since returning to civilian life?
I read the Rolling Stone article and it is very powerful. I wish they had a photo of what Blake Miller looks like now to compare. Great post.
Luis Sinco, the photographer, returned to photograph him in the States.
You can check these two links to see the larger project.
Remember, It’s only a photo.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/marlboromarine/la-1111-marlboropart1-pg,1,4262235.photogallery
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/marlboromarine/la-1112-marlboropart2-pg,1,5704029.photogallery
Or this good one….
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2007/nov/18/featuresreview.review1
Thanks for the photo links. They are soooo much more than photos.
thanks for finding these, Monkey-man. I couldn’t find any picture connected to the last one, though.
No photos on the last one. Just a good read.