I stumbled upon this the other day and thought it was pretty cool. Duke will also do contract work for other stuff, if you like. Enjoy. –Head Jundi
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‘Send it’ by Duke
Get it Here
In the Old Testament, within the book of First Samuel the fourteenth chapter, the young prince of Israel, Jonathan, spies an opportunity for havoc to be wreaked upon his enemies. He turns to his armor bearer, and says in the sixth verse; ‘Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few’, (Emphasis added).
His equal in both courage and fighting prowess, the young armor bearer replies without hesitation; ‘Do all that is in thine heart: turn thee; behold, I am with thee…’, (emphasis added).
A better picture could not be painted to the outsider of the relationship of a sniper/observer team in the armed forces of the United States military.
Men have recorded better written history and analysis of the military’s snipers, past and present, along with detailed descriptions of thier training, weaponry, equipment, feats and tactics than I ever could hope to describe. My deepest goal, however, is to capture an image -one that will speak the proverbial ‘thousand words’- and that, I pray, brands itself in your soul; for these professional young men do a job that consists of unspeakable odds, matchless professionalism, and fathomless courage.
This project started in concept form in spring of 2007, when I happened to read an article about four Marine snipers of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, who were savagely killed atop a rooftop in Ramadi, in June 2004. All had been shot multiple times, thier throats were cut, and thier weapons and equipment taken. As a son of a Marine, and as a free American, I was outraged by this. It wasn’t an anger that needed someone to blame -I knew who to blame; the ones who killed them. It was a sense of outrage, that if there was any concievable way that I, a civilian, could do something to equip, support, or encourage these young men who are in harm’s way (in every conceivable sense of the word), then I would do so.
As I re-read the article, in my mind’s eye, I began to see a sniper team, in a filthy upper story room in Iraq, silently carrying out thier jobs, with quiet and deadly intent. Problems were immediately apparent, however; where unlike in paintings where I can see the subject matter and details of the concept in sharp clarity, all the details of this painting were out of focus and blurry. I needed help, and lots of it.
Around that same time, in the end of March of 2007, an acquaintence of mine was seriously wounded in Iraq. This gentleman, who has grown to be a close friend of mine, is modest to say the least. If I said he would make a monk seem like a braggart, I would not be exaggerating. He would also be put out with me if I went in depth about how he was wounded, but I will say this; when a fellow says ‘he was just doing his job’, and his ‘job’ may involve trying rip a heavy machine-gun from atop his just blasted-to-smithereens HMMV, and then attempts( his body gave out, but his heart did not ) to chase down the stains on humanity that just tried to blow up his friends -on foot, bleeding terribly, with shrapnel lodged near his spine and new orafice added to his body- you will indulge me when I say that the American public needs to get on thier collective knees and thank every man and woman who has ever followed orders to put a footprint in countries such as Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan or any other open-sewer that has a flag and calls itself a ‘country’.
But, I digress.
So, while my friend was convalescing at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (picture a Howard Johnson’s, but with a gate -except the Howard Johnson’s has better food) I shared my idea with him; I wanted to paint a picture of snipers, as accurately as possible without revealing any sensitive item or detail, then sell the painting as a poster or print and use the proceeds to help military personnel in some way.
He helped me immeasurably; not only with the subject matter in regards to positioning the composition, but with things such as equipment, placement of the depicted personnel and other invaluable details, but he put me on the right path with people who posessed even greater experience in the Army’s sniper community. What’s more, my friend also gave me a lead on where I could focus the support this project would hopefully raise; American Snipers (www.americansnipers.org).
American Snipers is a non-profit organization run by both military and police snipers, whose sole mission is to ensure that every shooter in harm’s way has the equipment they need to accomplish thier mission, and return to thier friendly area alive. Throughout the War on Terror, vital equipment has not kept up with demand, and in some cases never reached the men who needed it at all. Ever. Lives have been lost due to not having the right equipment. This travesty is being addressed head-on with compassion, aggression and tenacity by the men of American Snipers. There are other organizations of sterling reputation on par with American Snipers( The Wounded Warrior Project, Special Operations Warrior Foundation to name a few who deserve your attention), but none that are superior. For very poster you purchase, $10 goes to americansnipers.org to keep our snipers ‘kitted-up’ in the best gear money can buy, that the mission may demand at the time. Wherever one’s political convictions lay, let us agree that our fighting men who do this incalcuably difficult job need not be crippled and have thier lives recklessly endangered because a vital piece of equipment gathering dust here stateside, is not in thier hands ‘on the job’.
Two gentlemen in particular( who, as they are active duty, shall be only known by thier monikers in certain circles; ‘Cyclops’ and ‘J’), along with along with my friend, deserve every bit of credit for any success this painting achieves. Any failure in this endeavor to portray something appropriately lies solely with the artist.
Over the next five months, from March to August of 2007, these three men assisted, suggested, critiqued and encouraged. No detail was left omitted, every bit of equipment, clothing and weaponry has a reason and has a story. I owe these men alot, and yet they asked for nothing -except a signed copy of this painting, and that thier brothers behind the long-guns be supported appropriately. ‘Cyclops’ particularly was my constant coach, as there were times I would send him four or five emails a day, dozens of questions, endless edits and the occasional squirrely idea. Radios, dials, cords, hand positions, gloves, eyewear, helmets, night-vision mounting brackets, webbing -no accurate bit content was left un-addressed. It is also vitally important to understand that at no time whatsoever did any one of these men divulge any detail or piece of information that could, or would, jeopardize the operational security of snipers in harms way. Evidently, all the details and items in the painting can be found in public information. If you can find or understand it, however, my hat is off to you. Believe me when I say this, there are acronyms of letters and numbers that will leave you wanting to sit in a corner, rocking back and forth talking to yourself. But its all ‘ABC’ and ‘123? to them. (I will note here -or, perhaps, its more of an admition- that every now and then I pridefully tried to dazzle them with artistic lingo in regards to graphics applications and such things. Yeah; that didn’t work. They usually would begin to discuss ballistics tables, judging wind, estimating range or other Jedi sniper arts, and I could literally feel my brain cramp and my eyes glaze over. Get me back to my happy place of pixels and pencils. )
This painting depicts three such professionals at work.
From left to right; the shooter is using the M24 SWS(Sniper Weapon System) with a GemTech HVT suppressor on the front, a McCann rail is attached to the top portion of the weapon, and Leupold MK 4 scope with Docter red-dot optic rides on the upper rail. He is resting his SWS upon an ATS Tactical R.A.I.D. pack, and is protecting his hearing with a Peltor noise-cancelling/communication headset. His spotter, or observer, the other member of the basic two-man sniper team, is spotting targets and calling out range to the shooter using a Leupold Mark 4 12-40×60mm Spotting Scope. The spotter’s Colt M4 rifle, leaning against the wall within arm’s reach, boasts a Gemtech HALO sound suppressor, a Trijicon ACOG optic atop( to augment the rifle’s ability to hit targets at medium and short-range distances without divulging the team’s position -hence the suppressor on the M4’s barrel as well ). The rifle also has riding on its forward rail a Surefire M951 weapon-light with an Infrared filter, and a laser-targeting device. The security-man, keeping the vulnerable rear position covered, is carrying a Mk 46 machinegun in 5.56 caliber, with an EOTech holo-sight, a laser-aiming device, and a collapsable stock -all to aid in maneuvering the bulky, but beneficial, weapon in close confines of urban areas. The painting itself was done on a Wacom Intuous3 tablet, in Corel Painter 9 on a Dell Dimension C521 PC. I use primarily artist’s airbrush, chalk, thick/thin pen, and other variations to achieve the required effects.
One last piece of information about the painting I would like to share is about the name. The name of the piece came from a discussion at an online military/law-enforcement forum where a U.S. Army officer, who would later be tragically killed by an IED, asked to the membership to whom it applied; ‘What went through your mind when you were shot at the first time?’ In that discussion, ‘Cyclops’, recalled and incident from an early deployment on a sniper team during the War on Terror; “My first thought was; ‘Ready’. Followed by, my observer saying ‘Send it’.” The name made itself known through this recollection, and it was perfect.
I enjoyed every second of working on this piece and the collaboration with these fine men. I hope this painting finds not only a place of honor in your personal space, but more importantly that the subject matter finds a hallowed area in the confines of your heart. Thank you for supporting our troops, especially our young men “behind the gun” who, in thier element, fight in the heart of enemy areas on thier own, protecting American lives just as First Samuel stated; “sav[ing] by few”.
Godspeed.
Duke