US Army photographer Hilda Clayton captures moment explosion kills her, four Afghan soldiers

LOL nope, I had no idea you were a Chiquita. It should have occurred to me, considering how female dense our MOS's are. Some of the best NCO's I had shaved their legs. Dana Houston taught me more about writing than any other person in my career. Kathy Rhem taught me more about the editing process and how to get our copy clean. I was primarily used as a shooter, but in Korea and DC on the Pentagram, they really helped me learn the less used aspects of the trade.

We have one of the more psychologically difficult jobs to do, I think. Think about it: We're basically REMF's in a combat position. The grunts do not see us as a combat multiplier, because we don't do anything immediate for them. BUt our influence on command is large. And our influence on the American public is really large. So we end up with a complex, trying to prove ourselves so we can do a job the people we're doing it for don't understand or appreciate.

I can't tell you how many times I deployed to a combat zone, only to have the unit I was attached to try to use me to shoot their damned reenlistment ceremonies or award ceremonies. I got a reputation for having a mouth on me, and if the people I was detached to had any influence on my career, I'd have been a private for ten years. Fortunately, people recognized that I did good work lol!

I found that making sure people had their shots sent home to the fams quickly gave me a window into their world. I'd spend the first few days shooting them in the field fucking off, a day or so emailing things to their moms, then I'd go about my work without anybody pissing in my Wheaties. It was a pain in the ass but it got me access to the troops like I needed to do my job.

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