No Glory in War

This spring the US will send 17,000 additional combat troops to Afghanistan to join the 36,000-strong force already in the field. With those rising numbers will come a rising death toll. War is death. If we are to engage in war then we should have to stare it straight in the face, and call it by its rightful name. I think we need to be reminded as much as possible that real people are in those flag-draped boxes.

I am not showing these images as a Democrat or a Republican, or as representing the view from the "right" or the "left." I am taking and showing these photographs as someone who is adamantly opposed to war no matter who runs the white house or the congress.

When the flowers are cleared and the speeches are over, three men in sweatshirts and jeans take all the trimming away, and lower a body into the cold ground. On that day a wife has no husband, a mother has no son, and a one year old child has no father.

War is the greatest failure of mankind. When I go to these funerals all I can see is failure.

• • • • • •

Tim, age 28, Air Force combat controller with the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, was killed Feb. 20 in Oruzgan province of Afghanistan after his vehicle hit an improvised explosive device, which was followed by small arms fire. Tim is survived by his wife,Meagan, and year-old son Timmy Jr.

The funerals of 7 soldiers can be found in the "Afghan + Iraq War Funerals" portfolio at www.aaronhuey.com

Comments

[Krdoyle]

I told a dear friend who was devastated by your article & photo of her friend, opinions are like a-holes, everyone's got one. Here's mine.
This man chose a life path to protect us, he may never imagined that would mean going to war let alone becoming a victim of an explosion in a foreign country. I don't think any of the men and women who enter the military know exactly what there destiny may entail. However, I do know this death is hard enough on a family no matter what the circumstances are. It is a time to lay a person to rest & let them rest in peace. This young man leaves this life knowing he served & did what he could to protect his loved ones at home in our great country. He did not ask to be published in a local paper, he did not ask to help you gain notoriety, he did not ask for this image of himself to be slandered in the daily press for his wife to once again have to live through the horror of losing her soul mate. Who goes to a wake or funeral with a camera? REALLY?? Ask yourself that. I too have mixed feelings & emotions about war but I DO NOT have any mixed feelings about intruding on a private moment & taking a few snap shots for my personnel gain. You could've expressed yourself & your emotions in print alone & not made this mans

[Aaron Huey]

HuffPost's Pick

Greetings all. I wrote this blog post. I need to clarify a few things:

1: I HAD THE FAMILY'S PERMISSION TO SHOOT THESE IMAGES.
2: These images tear me apart, I gain no pleasure from them.
3: I support the President and our troops, I am not arguing against "the surge," I am arguing against war as a means of problem solving.
4: I lived in Afghanistan. I have been to Oruzgan province where Tim was killed and almost died in an attack myself. I have been in battle. A four hour running gun battle with no armored vehicles, separated from the Americans, running through a series of hostile villages. 2 in our group died. I am not so perfect that I wouldn't have shot a gun to defend myself if I had been given one.
5: If I had my way the media would show more than just coffins, they would show dead bodies on the battle field, no matter how bad it looks. Because if we are going vote for war then we should see the direct result. No looking away. No disguising it. I want the people who vote for war to see every death that happens in that conflict - every soldier, every civilian. This is much bigger than the military death count.

[WilliamL]

I find these photos highly suspect for a number of reasons directly related to the 18 years I spent living on military bases and family killed and a suicide as a result of Vietnam. I find it difficult to believe that not one person at the funeral objected or said anything about this photographer standing around taking pictures?

Were these photos taken from beneath his shirt as with a hidden camera? I know for a fact that had this occurred at any of the funerals associated with my family, he wd. have been escorted from the facility on his own or carried out on a stretcher.

Having lived with the impact of combat operations upon my entire family due to Vietnam, I am not one that believes that war is the best or first answer or solution. I am also well aware that diplomacy has it limits and there are times when there is no alternative.

War sucks, War is hell. War needs to be avoided at all costs but to be so simple and naïve to believe that there have not been justified wars is, well, ridiculous. Gandhi stated that non-violence is not always an option, and that the only thing worse than violence is a coward. Taking photos of dead soldiers and telling the world that all war is wrong is easy. Being a soldier is not so easy. Exploiting the dead is as suspect as these photos.

[JD-28]

This article is predicated on the wrong-headed idea that "life is sacred". Which is a lie that we, as living beings, like to tell ourselves. War is an unfortunate necessary evil at times. The kind of thinking that this article brings about is a "peace at any price" mentality, which is exactly what allows bullies to bully. No, I don't like the idea one bit of family members having to look at an empty chair around the table where their loved one should be. My heart sincerely goes out to them. However, most often, those people, especially an all-volunteer military, died doing what they wanted to do. That, to me, sounds like a life well-lived. I don't agree with the Iraq War, I think it was started by a bunch of greedy, out-of-touch, chicken-hawks, who worked out their manhood fantasies by sending other people's loved ones to fight and die for the great country of Halliburton. But, there is no denying that many of those who died firmly believed that what they were doing was important and as such I think they died not in vain.

[daffey]

What a world, when we finally realize that humans are animals, that the strong can devour the weak, that we can not be burden with illusions of morality and ethics. When we can realize that humans, like any animal, can be herded, thinned, and bred. Oh, it was tried in the 20th century, based on the 19th century’s tossing out of the old ‘life is sacred’ bull, but it was such an imperfect experiment. Hopefully next time we'll get it right.

[TonyOnly]

War is a primitive form of dispute resolution. It always leaves others looking for revenge and is a indication of a civilization still ruled by emotion rather than intellect.

[daffey]

As opposed to which civilization that has ever been ruled solely by intellect so that we could test your hypothesis? Too broad of sweeps in that post, sorry.

[TonyOnly]

No civilization before us has been able has been able to survive and they all ended in war. What makes you think we're so different than those before us that our civilzation will survive war after war after war.

[CARTERJ]

World War One, which was grew out of a series of petty occurences, was supposed to have been the War To End All Wars. This engendered World War Two, the horrors of which should have made war obsolete for good. Vietnam should have taught us the futility of war. And then Bush invades Iraq under false pretenses, a mistake which will not be forgiven in that part of the world, and for which we will forever be paying.

When will they ever learn?

[daffey]

CARTERJ,

You make good points. Unfortunately, the answer to your question is: never. War is to societies what crime is to individuals. It's been around as long as there have been people, and it will be around as long as two or more are gathered. One need only look at the tenor of much debate and dialogue today. Whether the Right or the Left, it's pretty darn ugly. As ugly, if not uglier, than what was written in the later part of the 19th century and early 20th. And you see where that got us. We all know that if we don't learn from history, we will repeat it. Unfortunately, though we seem to know something of history, we so seldom want to apply the lessons to ourselves.

[noralou]

So many don't want to look at the faces of this failed oil war. If we are willing to see them sent off to war than we should be able to look at the coffins that we get in return for the healthy young people that we put in harm's way.
I have a letter that my Uncle Pat wrote to his older brother just before he died over in North Africa during WWII. He was less than a year out of high school. He missed his mother. It is still heartbreaking to me and makes me tear up to read it.
The costs of even a just war arr very high. If we can't face those costs we have no business sending these children to war.

[daffey]

Nice post. Very touching. Things like that always bring it home. Thanks for sharing.

[KoolBreez]

There is glory and honor in war (as long as you are not the one fighting it or the or isn't being fought in your country)

[JulieSA]

Did you get permission from his next of kin for this? I certainly hope so.

Some soldiers are starting to specify in their wills that if they die, they may not be used for propaganda like this. I hope you aren't violating this airman's wishes.

[BBackSoon]

You know I agree with you that I hope consent was granted, but the tone of your post was repulsive.

Do you really believe this is propaganda?

We have been sheltered from the images of US war casualties for the last 15+ years. People die in war it is a fact. And perhaps if we saw the horrible face of death a little more often we would not be so quick to agree to send our young men and women into action for countries vanity!

[JulieSA]

If that airman is being used to serve a political position he was against, that's far more repulsive than anything I said.

[TheLearnedEnglishDog]

While we are on the subject of propaganda, do you think we would be at war if the Bush Admin had not willfully lied about factual matters known only to them? Networks and major newspapers spread this disinformation for nearly the entire time between 9/11 and the out break of war. I think that comes a hell of a lot closer to propaganda than this.

[demigod]

So soldiers can be shown to us to whip up militancy and nationalistic froth, to generate pride in some elevated ethic, to instill "daring do" so we march off to war as a "unified Nation" - but when they lose limbs or get their brains blown out, we can't see them without someone else's "permission" ? Someone with a very definite stake in the game ? How can Americans make an informed judgement about national policy deprived of the truth ? Do you believe in truth or not ? Should we be lied to like Russian, German or Japanese families were ? The propaganda starts in the Recruiting offices, my friend. It is perpetuated in the media, in our churches, and in every political speech. At some point, wouldn't you want the truth ? These guys made choices and signed up without anyone's permission. I demand to know their fate, without anyone's permission. I'm an American citizen. They died for me, right ? RIGHT ???

[JD-28]

You are so right about the media being all too complicit when it comes to propoganda. They are basically an unpaid marketing arm of the U.S. Military Industrial Complex. Or maybe they ARE paid...

The MSM is always obsequious to the U.S. government.

[cheesymacaroni]

War is failure. It certainly should be seen as a solution of last resort and it's duration as short as possible. We should be moving to the exits in Iraq already, enough is enough, and not be ratcheting up in Afghanistan. I did not vote for a "war president." I would have pulled the lever for McCain if I wanted a hundred years of this b.s.

[CelticMajic]

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature, and has no chance of being free unless made or kept so by the exertions of better men than himself

John Stuart Mill

[MajorKong]

John Stuart Mill, while a great intellect, never set foot near a battlefield in his entire life.

[CelticMajic]

but you and I have

[rkoenn]

This may be somewhat true but also war should be avoided at all costs possible and realistic. Bush took us to war with lies and insinuations, not facts. He rushed it so we would not have time to discover the truth. Saddam was an urchin but not worth the life of a single US citizen. And I am afraid Afghanistan is an infinite quagmire. The ruthless Russians should have proved that to us, they left in defeat after 10 years occupying the country. Yes there are time when it is necessary and not really of choice. But Bush took us into two wars of choice and one illegally and we are paying in lives and money. A war against terrorists is better fought with covert operations and strategic small strikes, not a military on the ground against a hidden enemy. Our armed forces are not designed for this. And as the author pointed out, it costs people dearly and is easy for someone who isn't directly involved to hold as patriotic. War kills, it is not inherently good.

[CelticMajic]

Agree with your first sentence and note your opinions that follow. Some agree and some do not. Regardless, nothing but honor is due those who gave the last full measure of devotion.

[CellarDoor]

False dichotomy. Our options are not just war or abject cowardice. But that seems to be the only options we allow ourselves.

[CelticMajic]

Only a false dicotomy if there is nothing for which we are willing to fight.

[Fein]

Good work Aaron.

Warmongers have a hard time selling their 'war on terror' with their personal delusions of 'glory' when the bill is not hidden by a corrupt government's propaganda.

Bravo

[daffey]

People have always known war is hell, to use the quote. It’s a fallacy of the post-Boomer world that we are the first people in the West who understand the horrors of war. Read ancient Greek commentators, or Ancient Roman. They understood the waste and terror of war in the Middle Ages. And in the Enlightenment. And the Napoleonic Age. And the Crimean War. And WWI and WWII. People have always understood that war was horrible. They’ve simply disagreed on when war was necessary. The idea of glory in war, by the by, comes from a different time when people found glory in things beyond themselves. For a world in the shadow of the Me Generation, it’s almost impossible to fathom such a perspective. Someday we may regain that perspective, maybe not. War is and always has been a horrible thing. But unfortunately, whether glorious or not, war has always been.

[fbr79]

Ridiculous, does the family know you are using those pictures for your propaganda? We know why we are fighting for, don't worry about it.

[cheesymacaroni]

Enlighten us, please. What is the mission in either Iraq or Afghanistan? Can anybody answer that without wrapping themselves up in the flag and farting patriotism like it's a slogan that fits on a bumper sticker?

[fbr79]

Serving the nation is not limited to the current missions overseas. We do this our whole lives, not just for a war that suits our politics and ideology. We obey the Commander-in-Chief, Democrat or Republican. We work in community projects in the United States and overseas in humanitarian missions, we train tiredlessly to be prepared for any type of conflict. The person he is showing in this pictures was a volunteer and a professional, aware of the risks involved. Your tone is disrespectful and shows the clear gap that exists between the civilian majority and the military family. You don't even care about separating the two conflicts, which are not related whatsoever. The mission in Iraq was to find the WMD's (which obviously didn't exist, Bush lied to us.) and take out Saddam Hussein to allow for a democratic government ot be established (which we did). The lack of planning (as pointed out by Gen. Shinseki) and understanding of the nuances in Iraqi society left us in the situation we are in for all these years. We went to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban and Al-Qaida, we were able to push the Taliban out of Kabul, but once again bad organization, planning and inadaquate manpower have got us stuck. You see, we have access to the same information you have, the difference is that we actually go to these places and see the reality, while you seat thinking it is really clever to ridicule people's patriotism.

[destruct1]

"I am taking and showing these photographs as someone who is adamantly opposed to war no matter who runs the white house or the congress." Interesting statement seeing how war is what led to you being able to even have the right to enjoy the freedoms you do. Yes...war sucks, unfortunately it's an undeniable truth we have to face. There are people that would seek to slit your throat without knowing the slightest thing about you. You need to understand that. Until you do, you still have the right to go on thinking that freedom is free.

[BBackSoon]

Funny this war we are in has not kept us free. If anything we have fewer civil liberties than we started with and we have emboldened and empowered our foes.

War is at times necessary. Our war in Iraq was not and we missed our chance in Afghanistan.

[I Gotta Feevah]

Please name a civil liberty that you, as an American citizen, are deprived of since the Iraq invasion.