Haunting portraits show Marines Before, During and After service in Afghanistan; (very telling)

reply to post by CharonIncarnate


Thats funny you say that. The last guy does appear to have came, saw, and actually came out with wisdom. Regardless of what he went through, he does seem to have it together and can live a good life without too much trauma.

Soldiers see horrors, soldiers are traumatised. Indeed this is a fact.

Those pictures are nonsense though. Anyone can do this. Not even different facial expressions, some people aren't even looking at the camera

Come on, lets have some common sense. I'm anti-war as much as the next man but this "study" is laughable

reply to post by JessopJessopJessop


Have to agree. Saw these in the British online press and thought how unremarkable.

reply to post by JessopJessopJessop

Not even different facial expressions, some people aren't even looking at the camera

I think that is one of the points she is trying ot make with this presentation. I wouldn't call it a study-per se. Not scientic but still telling and chilling.

It funny you, and others are so cavalier about the topic. You haven't been in war. I work with people who served in combat and they saw the story. Mixed feelings but mostly "I can see that" type of thing. Why, I assume there are so many different types of minds/make-ups that a certain group will be more or less than another group. Most likely a smaller number.

It this happened on a large scale, there would be a lost less wars going on-IMO. .

reply to post by rokrep69


Take it from someone who knows quite well. In most cases, you do not want to know. Seriously, stop glorifying that which deserves no glory.

This is very stupid. How can you compare PICTURES with emotions. You could take a picture of me at Christmas when i was a kid and then get another pic when im older and just saw some one die. ITS PROPAGANDA

Killing people and seeing your friends and family killed in front of you has a tendency to change you , this is the nature of war and what it does to people. It steals your innocence, your joy, your happiness, your love and ultimately your life.

Often times theres many a soldier who cannot get beyond the first time he takes a life and it destroys his mind forever. Some become hardened killers and numb to their emotions to survive, others go insane and others still turn their weapons on themselves and take their own lives because they feel like they have been damned and cannot forgive themselves.

The last reason is one in which is the reason they could never draft me beyond me being disabled, i will not murder for anyone. i'd probably end up a chaplin or a preacher in the military but i will not take a life. Because im a christian i cannot and will not.

Originally posted by TXRabbit
Just remember - they're over there defending YOUR right to take their pictures and post them on an internet site.

You should be thanking them!

Defending that right from what? Seriously, this piece of rhetoric is worn out. One cannot be the aggressors and be defending and the same time. Doesnt work.

Its known as the 1000 yard stare. Its one way to tell what a solider has been through and seen.

Thousand-yard stare

The thousand-yard stare or two-thousand-yard stare is a phrase originally coined to describe the limp, unfocused gaze of a battle-weary warrior. The stare/gaze is a characteristic of acute stress reaction, also known as combat stress reaction, which is related to post-traumatic stress disorder.

The despondent stare is a symptom displayed by victims who have succumbed to the shock of trauma by dissociating from it.

Originally posted by chocise
reply to post by JessopJessopJessop

 

Have to agree. Saw these in the British online press and thought how unremarkable.

I have to agree with you two, I stared at these pictures a long time and I thought the middle images, the ones taken during their time at war, seemed to have the calmest demeanor.

Some of them actually looked more stressed before.

MY husband is a vet BTW, know how it affects them.

reply to post by anon72


this is kind of dumb.

i could take 3 pictures of one of my friends where he is smiling, indifferent and frowning and tell you it was before during and after going to war and you'd probably believe it.

Originally posted by 8ILlBILl8
This is very stupid. How can you compare PICTURES with emotions. You could take a picture of me at Christmas when i was a kid and then get another pic when im older and just saw some one die. ITS PROPAGANDA

exactly!

Originally posted by Frogs
Its known as the 1000 yard stare. Its one way to tell what a solider has been through and seen.

Thousand-yard stare

The thousand-yard stare or two-thousand-yard stare is a phrase originally coined to describe the limp, unfocused gaze of a battle-weary warrior. The stare/gaze is a characteristic of acute stress reaction, also known as combat stress reaction, which is related to post-traumatic stress disorder.

The despondent stare is a symptom displayed by victims who have succumbed to the shock of trauma by dissociating from it.

I never heard of it, yea, I am going to go look at some of my husbands pictures while he was in Nam.

There is no doubt however that he came home troubled, he still shows very little emotion.

I'm not sure where those that are saying that these pictures dont show anything are coming from. Its all in the eyes.

Try focusing on the pics, but ignoring everything about the photos except the eyes. The difference is undeniable. As has already been stated, these are great examples of the thousand yard stare.

I can generally pic out a marine without doing anything but looking in their eyes. Even basic changes people.

Originally posted by CharonIncarnate
Its all in the eyes. Its saddening to look at them. Hardly what heroes deserve. They joined for the right reasons, but were lead by the evil.

Lead by there commanders who were lead by evil

I remember getting off of a flight from El Toro MCAS that had arrived it Kadena AFB on Okinawa and seeing the hard looking faces of what looked like much much older Marines than the ones that I had just arrived with... They were to board the plane we had arrived on for the return flight to El Toro.... 13 months later I was standing where they had been waiting for the return flight and being silently glanced at by the new guys on their way to the hell I had been through.. They looked much much younger than the guys that would ride home on the plane they had just arrived on... It tickled me to ask 'Who's got orders to 3rd MarDiv"? I would respond back to the ones that answered that they did " Oh hell man, you are going to die" It had been a long time since the guys waiting to board had laughed about going to Vietnam.

Damn... I know this pictures could have been taken out of context or posed, however I still wouldn't wish the duty of a marine on anyone.

I think this is bogus. We can't make any judgements off of 3 photos. Did she take more than one picture of each man, before, during, and after? Of just 1 picture of each? How hard would it be to take the worst of the pictures you took, and compare them side by side; then you can say "look at the change, it's horrible".

I guess I'm the only one that doesn't see a drastic change in most of these people...

Careful what conclusions you draw from this. The middle pictures, in particular, are much different than the two ends one not because the guys are all that different, but because of the differences in the film and lighting. The middle ones DO look harsher, but there is an obvious lighting and background difference here. She MADE them look harsher by using more contrast. In the main article she talks about having only a very short time with each guy as they came off an exhausting patrol, enough to shoot only one frame each. While I appreciate what she is trying to say, she had a pre-conceived notion of what she would find before she took the first shot, as is shown by how she portrayed the men. She's a good photographer--reminds me of Karsh in WW II (Remember the famous picture of Churchill with a cigar?)--but she definitely has an agenda here. And as shown by the comments here, she succeeded. She set them (and you) up.

My grandfather fought in WW2. He was in day 3 of Normandie, and helped liberating Buckenwalt concentration camp. The war took its toll on him. Even if he was a young man when he fought, things stayed with him to his grave when he died at age 90. He had nightmares his entire life after the war. It always looked like he had lost something important. When I got a letter from the government asking me to serve, he was the one who gave me strength to refuse the military. He despised war, and to this very day I hold his judgment on this topic with the up-most respect. May he find peace in death.

Originally posted by matadoor
reply to post by anon72

 

I hope and pray that we eventually get to the point on this planet that war is seen as a path that no one wants to take.

Now that sums up everything humanity should of learnt in the last 1000 years at least? Because one should ask why do we keep making the same mistakes, and thinking war will solve the problem???