spoilsofwar
Lieutenant Junior Grade
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2011
- Messages
- 1,124
Subject matter can be anything; lets see what interesting photo's you've taken of whatever.
Here's mine - I was in Iraq in 2004-2005, during which time the Iraqi's held their first democratic elections since who-knows-how-long, before Saddam seized power forever ago. My company was in central Baghdad, and was detailed to protect polling sites. I didn't know, however, that we'd be required to transport the actual ballots! Widespread violence was predicted, as certain groups were boycotting the elections and threatening violence against those who went to vote.
Election day, I'm manning the M2 in the turret of an M1114 (armored HMMWV); the guy in the camo with the AK is an Iraqi policeman, or ING, or Iraqi army soldier, or whichever of the 20 names they gave them over the years, he is part of a local poling site's security.
I snapped a pic of the boxes of ballots, sealed, between my feet as we took them from polling sites to a regional collection center. This system struck me as ironic even as we were doing it, and caused me to take the picture for historical reasons, since I thought for sure there would be mass riots due to "Americans tampering with the elections".
Some guys from my platoon carrying the containers of ballots into the collection center
Despite concerns, the elections were a relative success considering the mess that Iraq was during that time. Even today, it strikes me as crazy that those ballots were next to my feet.
Here's mine - I was in Iraq in 2004-2005, during which time the Iraqi's held their first democratic elections since who-knows-how-long, before Saddam seized power forever ago. My company was in central Baghdad, and was detailed to protect polling sites. I didn't know, however, that we'd be required to transport the actual ballots! Widespread violence was predicted, as certain groups were boycotting the elections and threatening violence against those who went to vote.
Election day, I'm manning the M2 in the turret of an M1114 (armored HMMWV); the guy in the camo with the AK is an Iraqi policeman, or ING, or Iraqi army soldier, or whichever of the 20 names they gave them over the years, he is part of a local poling site's security.
I snapped a pic of the boxes of ballots, sealed, between my feet as we took them from polling sites to a regional collection center. This system struck me as ironic even as we were doing it, and caused me to take the picture for historical reasons, since I thought for sure there would be mass riots due to "Americans tampering with the elections".
Some guys from my platoon carrying the containers of ballots into the collection center
Despite concerns, the elections were a relative success considering the mess that Iraq was during that time. Even today, it strikes me as crazy that those ballots were next to my feet.
