Some of Ben's Army Photos

Fort Irwin, California

I spent most of the time in the swamps of Fort Stewart, Georgia, but I got to go the National Training Center in the Mojave desert twice.

Road March

I drove a M-113-A2 armored personnel carrier (on the right in the distance) for about a year, and later a M-35-A2 2-1/2 ton supply truck (on the left in the foreground) for six months. This was taken from the top of my APC at a rest stop during a road march (vehicles march in the Army!).

Best Buddies

Being an armored personnel carrier driver meant either I was hanging around the motorpool working on my vihicle or I was out in the field driving, and I spent the rest of the time carrying out infantry duties. Fort Irwin is extremely HOT during the day and very COLD at night. Here my best buddies Scott Gardner of Ohio (left) and David Brown from Louisiana (right) try to take advantage of the shade cast by an APC during a break.

APC Repairs

Occasionally, my armored personnel carrier would break down, which meant a tow to the rear area to visit the friendly mechanics in the field motorpool! Here SPC Wallingford (on the left) and SGT Thomas (on the right) muck about inside my APC's guts. I took this picture from the top of my APC as waited for it to get fixed. The mechanics did all the hard work, I spent my time chilling and listening to Joe Jackson and U2 on a Sony Walkman cassette player (remember those?).

Night Fire

Some days I would have to drive 100 kilometers across the desert and then I would have sleep for a couple of hours before having to drive another 50 klicks. I did get to perform some infantryman duties (i.e., marching in formation, digging holes and mindlessly following orders) but most of my time involved maintaining and driving my APC.

This is a time exposure of a night firing exercise, with most of the light coming from flares and weapon fire. The wind-blown smoke also contributes to the eerie. but beautiful, effect.

Target Practice

I did learn some useful stuff while in the Army, among them the ability to hit what I aim at...

I do have to work on my breath control though! ;->

Originally posted: Thursday, January 01 2004 @ 08:00 PM UTC