If i see this damn picture ONE more time…funny because this was just an accident…I was adjusting my ISO and F-stop. It wasn’t until later when I was editing my photos, I noticed this was a decent picture. A few days later my commander asked for this picture, so i ended up releasing it a few years later in April Army.mil released this picture and it was shared multiple timed. In fact, around 10k shares and featured multiple sites. I’ve probably taken well over 20k pictures for the Army and there are three photos in my little adventure that stand out. This being one. Another underwater picture again random using a handheld camera that was encased in plastic to protect from H20 and the third being at the DMZ and the ROK guard giving me an evil glare like he wanted to kill me. I remember this picture because I was so tired. I spent my entire deployment, 15 glorious months so tired. I had a fearless leader that worked my butt off. It was only later did I appreciate his leadership. It took me sometime after to see the bigger picture. During the time though, I cursed him under my breath. Spending all night out on missions only to get back, sweaty, dirty, and tired since the RIP ITs had worn off, and still having to write, edit photos and get a release out. So tired. My gosh was I tired, plus by that time I was running a lot. I think that was around the time I first ran Disney marathon. It’s ironic I remember details or events, but deployments seem like one blur. Blur because maybe the first half of my army adventure was spent getting ready for a deployment, deploying only to redeploy but getting ready to deploy again and doing that again and again. If I wasn’t deployed, I was in some school to make me a better person. I was so comfortable deploying, I remember once during the 2nd deployment, sitting on the bench waiting for a bus. All alone but a sigh of relief because I had felt so comfortable where I was at. As if I was “home”. I spent every deployment in Tikrit. Well, the first one I was “in” Tikrit, but didn’t really get to spend much time. Being in an aviation unit I flew with our aviators from FOB to FOB. Being liked by the command and aviators had many downsides. One being they sometimes failed to remember I needed sleep. They could fly to one place and relax. For someone with a writing job, there is always a story. Always. I’ve mastered the art of pulling stories from thin air. Because I’ve had to write about everything. Shit that I’m not even sure how I made a story about. My point isn’t the significance of this picture or any deployments, but the randomness of it. And I can probably do a million good things in my life, but one negative thing is what people remember. Essentially folks, nothing good you do in life really matters because people don’t remember that. They judge you for one choice, one mistake and one negative event encompassed by layers of details that are irrelevant. When you see an onion, you simply see it. Disregarding the detail that an onion is made up of layers of individual detail. Detail that makes it a whole onion. We see the whole onion, but not the layers upon layers it took to create the vegetable. Does it matter? NO Nothing in life matter. In the end we all die. Put in the ground to have bugs eat the layers that make our flesh. People die and life goes on. So, fuck it.eat good food, listen to great music and remember other people don’t have the right to define who we are. If you’re going through a stressful, happy, or mundane time, does it really matter? Did an event that happened a decade impact your life? Does it matter now? did those shoes, handbag, or other expensive item you wanted or needed last year, really matter today? No. Because nothing really matters in life. In a blink of an eye, we all end up dead. I love taking photos but it’s so misleading. Photos tell a story, but only a brief story we’ve frozen into a moment. This photo is a prime example. Everyone has shared it and remarked “Go Army” or all those other Hooah terms they want to use. Nobody knows what this photo represents. They merely view this photo as two Apache’s. I remember this picture because I remember every event of photos I publish. Years ago, this was taken during my amazing exceptional best time of my life adventure with 25th CAB. But prior to this picture, the night or day before, the timeline I don’t remember, but I remember we had lost a Blackhawk filled with a bunch of soldiers who died. I’ll leave out specific details because it’s not the story I told, but these Apache were sent out on reconnaissance to assess the area we lost the crew. The crew wasn’t 25th, we simply provide support. Nonetheless, Soldiers still died. I’m sure if you google helicopter crash during 2006, you’ll find the event I’m talking about. Well writing, I’m only talking in my head. My point is these photos isn’t a happy photo. Yet people want to see what they want to see. Spreading it like wildfire because social media is the fastest way to get information out. Would the photo be shared if the details of the photo were mentioned? Probably not. My point isn’t about this photo, but a point that people believe what they want to believe. They see a story, photo, or hear a conversation and define that is the truth. This photo is summed up as a picture that supports the Army and aviation.  A terrible event that isn’t told. I’m glad something positive came out of the event. It maddens me to no end how people can twist, turn, or view items and events into the perspective they want to believe. That is my point. Taking everything at face value without asking the details. The surrounding or backstory of the underlining implied message. But what the fuck do I know. As I’ve stated over and over. My PSA is remembering it’s down the middle and not straight across…. And use something sharp and rusty. Until next time….