thedrifter
08-19-08, 06:38 AM
TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. — There are hundreds of thousands of Marines spread across hundreds of occupational specialties, yet only two of them are combat artists, and they are both Reserve Marines
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Fay and Sgt. Kristopher Battles travel around the world photographing, sketching and painting Marines and Sailors in action.
They both traveled here Aug. 3, from their home base at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., to historically document in sketches and watercolor paintings the first two weeks of “Mojave Viper,” a requisite pre-deployment training evolution for 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment.
“We want to capture, in art, the unique experience of fellow Reserve Marines training at Mojave Viper,” said Fay. “Through our eyes, we want to get as close as possible to the realness of what is happening - the sweat, suffering, boredom and adrenaline. In an era of digital imagery, our art is slowed vision. There is depth to it. The viewer can see that the artist was there and get an idea of how the subjects were feeling.”
Fay’s Marine Corps career has spanned 33 years, during which time he has worked as a mortarman, bookkeeper, a CH-46 avionics technician, crew chief, and as a recruiter. Though he had been sketching and studying art most of his life, he didn’t become a combat artist until January 2000.
“It was the fall of ’97, and I’d been out (of the Marine Corps) a few years,” Fay said. “I was walking by an art gallery in Fredericksburg, Va., and I recognized the paintings in the window as the original work of Lt. Col. Donna Neary, a Reserve Marine and combat artist for more than 20 years. I went in, met her, and discussed Marine Corps combat art. She asked to see some of my work, so I walked three blocks back to my apartment to get my sketchbook, which included pieces I’d done during [Operation] Desert Shield in Oman and in Mogadishu, Somalia. She asked me if I would be interested in coming back in as a combat artist. It sounded like a good idea.”
At the age of 47, Fay re-entered the Corps on a two-year contract as a mobilized Individual Ready Reservist and has been drawing and painting non-stop ever since.
The Reserve Marines of 2/25 received Fay with a sense of both awe and fascination as he and Battles sat in the 110-degree heat sketching the troops during their training.
“With a reserve unit like this, the level of knowledge about art and the questions I received tells me that they fully appreciate what we’re trying to do,” explained Fay.
The artists rotated through the companies and followed the Marines in the brutal combined arms assault courses located in a remote region of the Mojave Desert.
They slept in the field, ate Meals-Ready-to-Eat, and worked feverishly in the Quonset Huts back at Camp Wilson, creating watercolors in the stifling mid-day heat and spraying them with fixative to keep out the dirt and grit.
They returned to the National Museum of the Marine Corps Aug. 18 to register these new pieces in the artwork collection there and for future use at exhibitions in museums throughout America.
“It was totally unexpected. I just saw a guy writing in a notebook, and then he tapped me on my shoulder and showed me the sketch. I thought he did a good job,” said Lance Cpl. Nicholas A. Gleason of Marathon, N.Y., a Fox Company Marine who is a life-long sketch artist himself.
In addition to documenting the troops in action, Fay also taught a tactical sketching class for the Scout-Sniper platoon of 2/25 Aug. 11.
Cpl. Tim Barber, who has been with the platoon since May 2007, is a graphic designer from Montclair, N.J., in his civilian career. Barber said that the class was definitely beneficial for him professionally, both as a Marine sniper and an artist.
“It helped me hone my skills,” said Barber. “I didn’t expect to get to do anything like this. As far as application, a picture is worth a thousand words. When you can accurately depict a battle space in combat and relay that information back to higher [headquarters], that is where you really make your money.”
The snipers have cameras and powerful lenses to take photos during scouting and reconnaissance operations, but Barber explained that sketching is a vital tool which all snipers should have.
“It really brings things back to fundamentals,” added Barber. “If you don’t have that foundation of observing and recording information, you can’t fully utilize the new technology.”
As the battalion is nearly three months into their pre-deployment training program here, the series of grueling live-fire ranges in the oppressive summer heat has left many of the battalion’s Marines exhausted, both physically and mentally.
“I think the sketching breaks the routine of training for the Marines, especially when they’re out here going non-stop from range to range,” said Fay. “Sgt. Battles and I are blessed that we can do something like this full-time. Not many artists get paid for their work. We do. We are able to go out every day and do something we have a passion for.”
One day in the future, the Marines of 2/25 may able to take their children and grandchildren to the National Museum of the Marine Corps to see images of them in the Mojave Desert in 2008, training for deployment in support of the Global War on Terror.
“What we are creating here with our sketches and paintings is not just art,” emphasized Fay. “It is artifacts.”
Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael Fay and Sgt. Kristopher Battles travel around the world photographing, sketching and painting Marines and Sailors in action.
They both traveled here Aug. 3, from their home base at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., to historically document in sketches and watercolor paintings the first two weeks of “Mojave Viper,” a requisite pre-deployment training evolution for 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment.
“We want to capture, in art, the unique experience of fellow Reserve Marines training at Mojave Viper,” said Fay. “Through our eyes, we want to get as close as possible to the realness of what is happening - the sweat, suffering, boredom and adrenaline. In an era of digital imagery, our art is slowed vision. There is depth to it. The viewer can see that the artist was there and get an idea of how the subjects were feeling.”
Fay’s Marine Corps career has spanned 33 years, during which time he has worked as a mortarman, bookkeeper, a CH-46 avionics technician, crew chief, and as a recruiter. Though he had been sketching and studying art most of his life, he didn’t become a combat artist until January 2000.
“It was the fall of ’97, and I’d been out (of the Marine Corps) a few years,” Fay said. “I was walking by an art gallery in Fredericksburg, Va., and I recognized the paintings in the window as the original work of Lt. Col. Donna Neary, a Reserve Marine and combat artist for more than 20 years. I went in, met her, and discussed Marine Corps combat art. She asked to see some of my work, so I walked three blocks back to my apartment to get my sketchbook, which included pieces I’d done during [Operation] Desert Shield in Oman and in Mogadishu, Somalia. She asked me if I would be interested in coming back in as a combat artist. It sounded like a good idea.”
At the age of 47, Fay re-entered the Corps on a two-year contract as a mobilized Individual Ready Reservist and has been drawing and painting non-stop ever since.
The Reserve Marines of 2/25 received Fay with a sense of both awe and fascination as he and Battles sat in the 110-degree heat sketching the troops during their training.
“With a reserve unit like this, the level of knowledge about art and the questions I received tells me that they fully appreciate what we’re trying to do,” explained Fay.
The artists rotated through the companies and followed the Marines in the brutal combined arms assault courses located in a remote region of the Mojave Desert.
They slept in the field, ate Meals-Ready-to-Eat, and worked feverishly in the Quonset Huts back at Camp Wilson, creating watercolors in the stifling mid-day heat and spraying them with fixative to keep out the dirt and grit.
They returned to the National Museum of the Marine Corps Aug. 18 to register these new pieces in the artwork collection there and for future use at exhibitions in museums throughout America.
“It was totally unexpected. I just saw a guy writing in a notebook, and then he tapped me on my shoulder and showed me the sketch. I thought he did a good job,” said Lance Cpl. Nicholas A. Gleason of Marathon, N.Y., a Fox Company Marine who is a life-long sketch artist himself.
In addition to documenting the troops in action, Fay also taught a tactical sketching class for the Scout-Sniper platoon of 2/25 Aug. 11.
Cpl. Tim Barber, who has been with the platoon since May 2007, is a graphic designer from Montclair, N.J., in his civilian career. Barber said that the class was definitely beneficial for him professionally, both as a Marine sniper and an artist.
“It helped me hone my skills,” said Barber. “I didn’t expect to get to do anything like this. As far as application, a picture is worth a thousand words. When you can accurately depict a battle space in combat and relay that information back to higher [headquarters], that is where you really make your money.”
The snipers have cameras and powerful lenses to take photos during scouting and reconnaissance operations, but Barber explained that sketching is a vital tool which all snipers should have.
“It really brings things back to fundamentals,” added Barber. “If you don’t have that foundation of observing and recording information, you can’t fully utilize the new technology.”
As the battalion is nearly three months into their pre-deployment training program here, the series of grueling live-fire ranges in the oppressive summer heat has left many of the battalion’s Marines exhausted, both physically and mentally.
“I think the sketching breaks the routine of training for the Marines, especially when they’re out here going non-stop from range to range,” said Fay. “Sgt. Battles and I are blessed that we can do something like this full-time. Not many artists get paid for their work. We do. We are able to go out every day and do something we have a passion for.”
One day in the future, the Marines of 2/25 may able to take their children and grandchildren to the National Museum of the Marine Corps to see images of them in the Mojave Desert in 2008, training for deployment in support of the Global War on Terror.
“What we are creating here with our sketches and paintings is not just art,” emphasized Fay. “It is artifacts.”