[LRflex] Re: Our Dinner With Sgt Mike, USMC
- From: Andy Wagner <yxandy2001@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: leicareflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:18:07 -0800 (PST)
Excellent series Richard. Just remember the Red and Gold will do everything in
thier power to protect our most important treasure. Please rely "Semper Fi" to
Sgt Mike from a former Marine
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Regards
YXAndy
________________________________
From: Richard Ward <ilovaussiesheps@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: â??lrflexâ?? <LeicaReflex@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tue, November 15, 2011 6:32:31 PM
Subject: [LRflex] Our Dinner With Sgt Mike, USMC
Hello Flexers,
I would like to share with my friends here on the list a small set of pictures
I
took on the 1st Sunday in November. That day Jane and I were the proud guests
of
Sgt. Mike, USMC at the 'Thanksgiving Dinner' he requested his parents hold for
him, and, well I guess for Jane and I, as well when it comes down to it.
All images taken with a Leica M8 and a Voigtlander Ultron 28mm f1.9 via LTM to
M
adapter. Almost all exclusively wide open and at high ISO's.
The Link to the flickr set is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeissfan/sets/72157627945890685/with/6320692458/
and the Link to the flickr slideshow is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeissfan/sets/72157627945890685/show/
This dinner was the first opportunity Jane and I had to meet Michael. When he
was first deployed to Afghanistan on the tour he just finished I happened to
cross paths with his mother who works the same place as my Jane. After a long
discussion I had with his mother about him and the difficult work he does and
the dangers he was coping with I asked if Jane and I could send him care
packages. She was startled, but happily agreed and so for awhile now I've been
putting together (with input from Jane) monthly packages of candies,
toiletries,
DVD's, CD's, and odds-n-ends, which he and his men might find helpful.
The great challenge Jane and I faced with choosing what to send was that He and
is Squad were having to burn their trash and packing materials and etc so
aggressively (for weight reasons and for security reasons) he was only able to
send a single letter back to us. So didn't get to fulfill our requests for
feedback on package contents or give us any special requests. The vagaries of
combat circumstances, supply situations, and such made reliably pulling our
address to be able to write back as he desperately wanted to were quite
limited.
About all we had to go on was a few words he wrote about being fed well and the
candies were very much appreciated.
Little did we know how massively important those regular packages from
strangers
'back home' were to the lives of both Sgt Mike and the men of his Squad. They
were on the furthest edges of supply lines with zero access to px's, showers,
kitchens, and even the occasional use of a cot wasn't something they took for
granted. The area he was operating in was exceptionally active - such a gentle
phrase for multiple times a day being shot at, mortared, or RPG'd, all on top
of
the constant threat of IED attacks and the booby traps everywhere. Their area
of
operations was so 'hot' that when Air Support was needed, bombs or missiles
fell within sixty seconds of the radio call - twenty four hours a day, seven
days a week. He said the only 'day off' he had the whole tour was breaking a
tooth on a Jolly Rancher (probably from one of our care packages!) and getting
choppered out for an overnight visit with the dentist.
Anyway, Michael spent a few hours of our time together Sunday sharing the
extensive collection of images he took with his waterproof fuji point n shoot.
Guy has some chops for composition and telling a story in a still image, rough
skills, but there. If you go visit the pictures on flickr, I think I've done a
good job myself of capturing what it was like for him to tell his stories, for
his parents and guests to hear them, and for what it was like for all of us to
be there.
Thank you Sgt Mike for the honor of getting to help a young man get through a
very difficult experience.
Sincerely,
Richard in Michigan
p.s. My Sig line below carries even more meaning for me now than it once did.
_________________________________________________
Not all treasure is silver and gold...
                  Jack Sparrow
_________________________________________________
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