Photographing an Army Unit by an El Paso photographer

What a great opportunity for an El Paso Photographer to photograph the Soldiers of Ft. Bliss, Texas, on a real world mission. I thought it was important to document the Soldiers who would occupy one of the last Combat Out Posts in the Arghandab River Valley in Afghanistan, just north of Kandahar City. These are the Soldiers of 4th Platoon, Courage Company. These Soldiers work, sleep, eat, play and train together 24 hours a day and are in each other’s company constantly as there is no “getting away from it” while deployed. As a photographer I wanted these pictures to show the more human side of the men and not the side that is all too often seen in most media outlets. These are the Soldiers that make up 4th Platoon, Courage Company.

“What a great opportunity for an El Paso photographer to photograph the Soldiers of Ft. Bliss, Texas, on a real world mission.”

As a Soldier and photographer I wanted to try to capture the deployment of these hard working Soldiers who were tasked with a nine month deployment that began last December. During the last five months they have been working extremely hard day and night. Through the heat, harsh conditions, and extended time away from home and loved ones, they still manage to maintain good attitudes and conduct successful missions every day. I had a great time photographing these guys, although the photography had to take a back seat to the mission at hand, not to mention that security had to be maintained. The photos here were taken during the first five months of our deployment, both on mission and at our temporary home.  Of course, we had to throw in a few “cool guy” pics for good measure.