Archive for category War Art
This is pretty ‘cool’. lol Jerry Cool painted this thing after a dream, and years later felt that the painting he put together was of Gary Faulkner and his quest to find Bin Laden. That is just wild.
In other news about Gary, it sounds like Al Qaeda and company has put a bounty out on him. I haven’t been able to really confirm that, but it makes sense that they would. I say that because the Taliban and Al Qaeda already have a bounty system going on for any soldiers they can kill or capture. -Matt
———————————————————-
Bin Laden hunter receives painting
July 21, 2010
Gary Faulkner, the Greeley man who was detained in Pakistan last month while on a mission to hunt down Osama bin Laden, sits Tuesday in front of a painting called “A Renaissance Dream of 9-11: The Killing of Osama bin Laden” at the home of artist Jerry Cool in Muncie, Ind.
MUNCIE, Ind. – An Indiana man who says he dreamed two years ago of a bearded man slaying Osama bin Laden has given a painting of the dramatic scene to a Colorado man arrested in Pakistan while hunting for the al-Qaida leader.
Jerry Cool, 63, told The Star Press of Muncie that he was “shocked” when he saw Gary Faulkner talking on CBS’s “Late Show With David Letterman” on June 28 about his arrest in northern Pakistan earlier that month.
“Once I saw Gary on TV, I knew that was him in my vision,” Cool told the newspaper. “To me, he’s the only one that deserves that painting.”
“I can’t understand why people do what they do just from looking in their eyes, but when I see what they make I see different creative views,” said Wagner. “Everybody has a different opinion of how life is, and you can see that when someone is given a piece of stone and turns it into a unit crest, a shot glass, or even just a ball.”
*****
The reasons why I keep coming back to art on this blog is not only do I enjoy the art itself, but I have a profound respect for the process and inspiration needed to make that piece of art. It requires analysis and synthesis, and it is a great ‘building snowmobiles’ exercise.
One of my favorite examples of artists/strategists was Myamoto Musashi. He was a big fan of art and for good reason. For problem solving or developing unique strategies, you need a brain that can look at situations from different angles and find multiple solutions. It takes creativity and the ability to really bend and mix the concepts to come up with unique solutions, much like an artist does on a canvas or with marble.
Of course you need to know yourself and your enemy, but if your enemy has that same mindset, you must have something a little different in your strategy to gain the upper hand. Getting inside his OODA loop is important too, but what if your enemy is aware of OODA as well? The real winner in this fight, is the one that is able to take all strategies and all inputs, and create a winning strategy that is more effective that your enemy’s. It is something to think about when trying to figure out how a ‘John Boyd’ could defeat a ‘John Boyd’. Having a creative mind is just one factor of many that will help you to get there.
On a side note, it is also interesting to go back to the patterns of battlefield innovation that I keep seeing. (here, and here) Where the dominate combatant’s strategy is copied by the weaker combatant’s strategy, and then the weaker combatant adds something to that newly adopted strategy to make it even more effective. A technological advantage could be one addition, or a multitude of little changes, all born from a different point of view, all from a creative mind. Borrowing brilliance seems to be a good way to go, just like artists get inspired by other artists. Interesting stuff and bravo to Charles Wagner for producing some beautiful marble work. -Matt
——————————————————————
Charles Wagner, a native of Rainier, Wash., explains the process of carving the 2nd Infantry Division shield into the emblem of 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd ID. Wagner worked during his down time for almost a month to create the marble carving, which he will present to the brigade at the end of their deployment.
*****
Story by Pvt. Zach Zuber
June 19, 2010
DIYALA, Iraq — It all started with grief in 2004-05 timeframe. Three Soldiers lost their lives, and a U.S. civilian contractor, who had befriended them, was left with a loss. Charles Wagner, a mechanic for General Dynamic Land Systems, was working in Mosul, Iraq, at the time and had to find a way to deal with his pain.
In an effort to relieve the pain felt from the passing of his friends, Wagner began shaping marble stones into crests, crosses and hearts. Since that time, he has created many works of art to escape from the stress that comes during deployment.
“This started out as a way to displace myself from what’s going on over here, working during off hours to focus on other things,” said Wagner, a native of Rainier, Wash.
Wagner said he lost three Soldiers on one mission, and he created hearts, crucifixes, and lancers for each of the parents as a way to connect to them.
During that first tour, in 2004-05, he carved a full-size lancer for 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division. Then, during the 2006-07 tour with 3rd SBCT, 2nd ID, he created a replica of the Indian-head shield that represents 2nd Infantry Division. When he traveled with the Arrowhead Brigade to Iraq last August, he received the request to make the 3rd Stryker Brigade crest, which includes the 2nd ID shield on top of an arrowhead, with the number three located above the shield.
‘That Guy’ by LMS Defense- The Comics. Artwork by Righteous Duke.
This website has some cool photos of some forgotten history. During the Mexican Revolution, there were many soldiers of fortune from all over the world applying their trade on both sides of the conflict. This was a very interesting period in which at the same time, you had wars like World War 1 going on in which many battlefield innovations were going on. You could say it was the time period in which the horse and repeating firearm was being trumped by machine guns, tanks, artillery and barbed wire.
But back to this collection of postcards. It is a fascinating look at the characters of that time period. I got a kick out of the names of some of these guys. Like Diablo or Slim. Slim was actually the name of quite a few American mercenaries back then.
The other thing I looked at was the amount of guys hired for their machine gun expertise. Guys like Tom Fountain, Sam Dreben, Alfred Lewis, and of course Maximillian Kloss and his work at the Battle of Celaya. Very interesting round up of some highly specialized folks that applied their trade all over the world, to include Mexico. It kind of reminds me of the long bow mercenary archers of the 14th century and how sought after they were. (the White Company comes to mind)
Finally, and this is what is really interesting about the mercenaries of this time period. They were the ones importing the know how of how to use these latest tools of warfare. It was these guys working in Mexico who introduced new and interesting ways of how to use the machine gun in warfare. The war in Europe was also emphasizing how effective these weapons were, and demonstrating how they could be used.
These soldiers for hire were the same guys who picked up battlefield innovations in other countries and wars they worked in and further evolved their ideas on how to wage war. That to me is a very interesting area that really hasn’t been studied when it comes to the dynamic of the globe trotting soldier for hire. Anyway, check out this link to see the other interesting characters and photos at this website. -Matt
—————————————————————–
American, Canadian and other foreign mercenaries in Mexico
From Wikipedia
Members of Pancho Villa’s American Legion of Honor
Many adventurers (e.g. Sarah “Wildwoman” Horn), ideologues and freebooters from outside Mexico were attracted by the purported excitement and romance, not to mention possible booty, of the Mexican Revolution. Most mercenaries served in armies operating in the north of Mexico, partly because those areas were the closest to popular entry points to Mexico from the U.S., and partly because Pancho Villa had no compunction about hiring mercenaries. The first legion of foreign mercenaries, during the 1910 Madero revolt, was the Falange de los Extranjeros (Foreign Phalanx), which included Giuseppe (“Peppino”) Garibaldi, grandson of the famed Italian unifier, as well as many American recruits.
‘Modern SWAT’ by LMS Defense- The Comics. Artwork by Righteous Duke. Recently showcased on Wired’s Danger Room blog here.
I did not make this poster below, but I thought it was worthy of Feral Jundi. There are tons of awesome drawings and posters that folks put up over at the Facebook group, and I am sure they are busy just processing all of them. This little Facebook group is also pissing off all the right people and bravo to the creators. And hey, I think every day should be Draw Muhammad Day just so these dorks get the message. lol -Matt
——————————————————————
Pakistan blocks YouTube, Facebook
By Sami Zubeiri
May 20,2010
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan on Thursday condemned caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that appeared on Facebook, blocking access to the networking site and YouTube in a growing backlash over Internet “sacrilege.”
Students and Islamist activists protested against the drawings and denounced the West in an expression of outrage that sparked comparisons with riots across the Muslim world in 2006 over drawings published in European newspapers.
The caricatures appeared on Facebook after a private user asked people to submit drawings of the Prophet Mohammed in an online competition that sparked fury in conservative Muslim Pakistan.
“We strongly condemn the publication of blasphemous caricatures of our holy Prophet on Facebook,” foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit told reporters in the capital Islamabad.
The drawing below that Lars Vilks did, as well as the Mohammad in a bear suit that the guys at South Park/Comedy Central put together, are two prime examples of the kind of stuff that really winds up these extremists. What’s better, is now there is a holiday being promoted on Facebook that declares May 20th as ‘Everybody Draw Mohammad Day’! I love it. And check out how many friends that page has? lol
All I have to say to Al Qaeda and company is that you better sell some more drugs and get some more donations from your rich muslim friends for all of the bounties you are going to have to post, because you are about to get an onslaught of funny Mohammad drawings. -Matt
—————————————————————–
Join up on Facebook for Everybody Draw Mohammad Day here.
Use your artistic skills (or lack thereof) and submit your drawings of Mohammad to drawmohammad @ gmail.com
Select entries will be featured on this page and on our website (currently under construction).
Invite all your friends to join this page – if individual freedom is important to you, now is the time to act!
—————————————————————–
Swede cartoonist Lars Vilks attacked
May 12, 2010
Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who sparked controversy by drawing Prophet Mohammed with the body of a dog, was on Tuesday attacked while giving a lecture at a university, police said.
“The man was sat in the first row and suddenly he rushed at me. He punched me in the head and I lost my glasses,” said Vilks, adding that at the very most he was “a little bruised”.
Police said around 250 people were present at the time of the attack at the university of Uppsala, north of the Stockholm.
Story here.
——————————————————————–
From the Facebook Page
In 2005, more than 100 people were killed in “cartoon riots”. Instead of speaking out against this insanity, people of the free world were bullied into the corner and decided that it would be better to appease Islamists with self-censorship under the threat of violence, since there is certainly plenty of evidence that they are more than willing to deliver on their threats. “If you dare portray Mohammad or criticize Islam” – you can end up dead.
The message was clear – and we were willing to give up our rights and forsake our values under the threat of violence from a group of thugs.
In 2010, we reached a new low when Comedy Central has decided to remove any mention of the name “Mohammad” from an episode of South Park, again as result of death threats from people who claim to be followers of a “religion of peace”.
‘Not Responsible.‘ From LMS Defense-The Comics and Righteous Duke Designs.
I thought this was interesting. This is the artwork of District 9, and it revolves around the fictional PMC called MNU. There is also a patch that someone is selling. Like I mentioned before, hollywood is only weaving this industry into the fabric of culture, and you will find similar artwork and merchandising coming out of Avatar. -Matt
——————————————————————-
