Embedded: Civilian becomes Soldier
Traditionally, men go into war already armed.
During the times of ancient Greece, the men were armed with swords and shields.
During the Civil War, men carried muskets fitted with bayonets. In modern-time
armed conflict however, soldiers wield M16s and hand grenades. Beginning in
2003 with the invasion of Iraq by the U.S. military, the government decided to
add an equally lethal new weapon—the camera. The American government decided
that in order to remain informed on the happenings of the war, they would
deploy journalists with the departing platoons heading directly for the front
lines. These journalists would not be sheltered from the chaos of war; in fact,
they went out of their way to go and find it, often finding themselves just as
close to the conflict as the soldiers they were accompanying. I will use the
book, War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath, compiled
by Anne Tucker, but more specifically in the book, the essays titled, “The
Fight,” “Portraits of War: A Photographer’s Perspective,” by Will Michels, and “Soldier
Photography: Visualizing the War in Iraq,” by Liam Kennedy, in order to analyze
photographs taken by embedded journalists and whether or not they are an
accurate description of war. I will also be using an article written by Chip
Reid, a correspondent for NBC News, “Recalling life as an embedded reporter: Digging
ditches to sleep in, dodging gunfire—a long way from D.C.”
In
the book, War/Photography, there is an excerpt by Hilary Roberts which
describes war photographers as a “special breed” of photographers
(War/Photography, 8). She goes on to say that war photographers become so
determined to get the most effective shot, that they become oblivious to
danger, oftentimes becoming desensitized to the risky situations that surround
their work. The photographer needs to discern whether the shot is worth the
risk. In an excerpt, Basil Clark (another noteworthy war photographer), is
cited as saying, “War photography either creates or attracts to itself a special
breed of men—men who are either so engrossed in their craft, or so constituted
mentally and physically that the riskiness of their work has very little effect
on them—and is certainly no deterrent” (War/Photography, 8). Here he describes
the type of photographer that goes in to photograph war as a man who lends
himself to his work, sacrificing his own emotional and physical well-being to
get the “perfect” shot.
One of these men is Chip Reid, a
correspondent for NBC News who spent a year documenting the lives of the soldiers in the 3rd battalion, 5th Marine regiment, as
they marched from Kuwait to Baghdad. Chip is the man on the right wearing a
chemical weapons suit and next to him is a young Marine; in the background is a
sabotaged oil plant (Image 1). The positioning of both men in the photograph is quite
interesting. Chip and the soldier are separated by an antenna in the picture;
Chip is more in the forefront of the photo while the soldier is in the
background indicating that Chip is the main focal point and therefore more
significant than the soldier. The smoke from the oil plant is only hovering
over the soldier, creating a black cloud around him in the likeness of a death
shroud. I can only see this as some type of negative sign or omen regarding the
outcome of this soldier’s deployment, or maybe it represents the atmosphere
surrounding the entire war in general.
Chip
was deployed with the unit and entered with them on the first day of ground
war, armed with a satellite telephone, ready to call in to the news station
back in America as soon as the fighting began. Chip talks in his article for
NBC News, “Recalling Life as an Embedded
Reporter,” about how he had expected to feel terrified going into the front
lines of war, but instead, he writes that during the first moment of ground
war, he was exhilarated. He also goes on to describe how he trudged on with the
rest of the unit, no special treatment or advantages. He slept in trenches just
like the soldiers and ate what the soldiers ate. Chip even acknowledges the
central objection to embedded journalism—the loss of objectivity. He explains
the first time he had to struggle to be objective and how although he admired
the soldiers around him, he strived to report what was happening as accurately
as he could, even if it meant putting those people in a negative light. The main
reason why he is there is just to “see,” to be a spectator, to act as the lens
through which a nation will be able to “see” the war. This means that he has to
be able to see the good and the bad without the benefit of having a filter.
Embedded journalists are able to see
the things that most journalists cannot; they have access not only to the battlefront,
but to the soldiers who are there day in and day out. Journalists have the
option to put down the camera at the end of the day. They can put the cap back
on the lens and step back. Soldiers, however, always have to remain vigilant
because there are no curfews when it comes to war. This is what makes returning
home very difficult for soldiers who have had to develop a “combat” mentality.
A photographer named Louie Palu, decided to document the development of this
mentality in his 2009 project called “Home Front,” which won a grant from the
non-profit organization, The Aftermath Project, which deals with “telling the
other half of the story of conflict” (The Aftermath Project). In Palu’s
project, he highlights the psychological and emotional damage that soldiers
develop as they serve on the front lines. The subject of the photograph (Image 2) above
is U.S. Marine Lcpl. Darmon “Commie” Connell, age 20, who was stationed at
Forward Operating Base Apache North during his first tour of Afghanistan. In
the photograph we can see that his expression is weary, almost apprehensive. He
appears to be looking at the camera with uncertainty, almost as if he is not
sure what the shot will make him out to be. On the front of his helmet,
someone, maybe him, wrote the phrase, “Front towards enemy.” This could
represent the fresh-faced enthusiasm many young soldiers feel when entering the
armed forces. The phrase also shows how the military are forced to run into any
conflict; they have this never-run-from-a-fight mentality. It also represents
the attitude of invincibility that Americans project onto our military. Lcpl.
Connell also seems as if he has aged, maybe not physically, but mentally.
Palu’s many images, including this one, record the toll that war has on a
person and documents the transformation from civilian to soldier using the
medium of portraits, which make these shots very intimate and revealing. This
is what wartime portraiture is meant to do. In Will Michels essay, he talks
about how the portraits are taken to identify the soldiers mainly, but also to
remind people that this is what war is mainly about. It is about people. “War is ultimately about people—it
is a human experience, and portraits inevitably give a human face to war” (War/Photography:
“Portraits of War,” 380). Palu’s project reminded the country that this war is
being fought by normal people; he gave the soldiers a chance to reclaim their
identity before the public.
Not only do embedded journalists
capture intimate moments of soldiers to assess their mental and emotional
trauma, but they obviously also capture their physical wounds as well. In the
photo above, photographer Erin Grace Trieb, traveled to the 8th
Forward Surgical Team trauma center in the Logar province of eastern
Afghanistan. It is the busiest emergency room in eastern Afghanistan, even
though it is made out of plywood and covered with a small tent. The medical
team there treats U.S. soldiers, the Afhgan National Army, and civilians. This
particular surgical had already treated over 350 different patients in only 5
months of being in Afghanistan (Trieb Foto). Patients are typically airlifted
to the “hospital” and are treated as quickly as possible, often into the night
as the surgeons work to treat multiple patients at once. In this specific image (Image 3) we see a soldier being carried into the center on a stretcher, with a brace on
his neck. Around him we can see other soldiers/surgeons positioning him among
the medical equipment. The injured soldier has sensors on his chest monitoring
his vitals. He also has writing on his arm, maybe to indicate what injuries he
has or to identify him among the rest of the patients. This photograph conveys
the confusion and the urgency that these surgeons have to deal with while trying
to cope with insufficient medical equipment, not exactly sterile conditions,
and more urgent patient cases than they can handle in one day. In the
photograph, the peripheral view is blurry and out of focus, while the patient
is completely in focus and becomes the focal point of the photograph. This could
symbolize the vantage point of the injured soldier, who is probably in pain and
may not even be coherent at that time. It also reminds me of the idea of “tunnel
vision,” which soldiers admit to experiencing while on the front lines on the
battlefield. This emergency center represents the battlefield of the surgeons
and in dealing with so many patients, I can imagine that they experience the
same type of “tunnel vision.” By allowing us to be able to experience both vantage
points, that of the patient and of the surgeons, the photographer has allowed
us to better understand what it is like to be in a war hospital in hostile
territory.
While no photograph or series of
photographs can encompass all of the emotions and action of war, they are at
least able to allow us to identify with those brave citizens who are fighting. Whether
the photo depicts soldiers laughing while playing cards during a rare moment of
down time, or of a Marine lying dead after an IED goes off on the side of the
road, journalists are there to capture a soldier’s experience. It may not
always be completely accurate, but at least they are out there searching for
the truth.
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