Finished......The Skipper

Well....here it is, sculpture #1 is done! I showed it to the curator of the Marine Corps Combat Art Collection, Charles Grow, on Friday and he was very, very happy with the result calling it Rodinesque. He just about made me swear a sacred oath to not touch it! (I have a nasty habit of not leaving well enough alone.)

Charlie is himself a combat artist, having covered Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Haiti, Somalia and Operation Enduring Freedom. He's also an accomplished photographer as well. There is no higher accolade for me than his thumbs up. He's asked me to contact a foundry here in Fredericksburg and start the process of getting it cast in bronze.

The piece, as I worked on it over the past couple weeks, became a haggard rifle company commander. Over the years I've tended to focus almost exclusively on sergeants and below, the grunts. But I've also carefully observed the late twenty-something captains who carry the burden of command with weary grace. The young Marines are lovingly lead and often painfully mourned by their commanding officer, the "skipper". Skipper is a term both respectful, and filled with warmth. It's the un-official moniker for a Marine captain.

As you look at these photos of the piece try and imagine it without the white plaster support. When it gets cast it will only be the plasticine portion.

*Click on images to enlarge

Trying My Hand at Sculpture

For the past few weeks, between working on the upcoming Michener exhibit, I've researched and began trying my hand at sculpture. Here's a series of images showing the progression of my first piece, from armature to about two thirds completed. I'm using plasticine to create the initial piece with an eye towards having it cast in bronze at a local foundry. The finished bust will stand about 16 inches high and show an exhausted Marine just in from a patrol with a wicked bad case of "helmet hair"

Our two other artists, Major Alex Durr and Sergeant Kris Battles, are hard at it in their respective studios. You can check out Battles' work at Sketchpad Warrior and Major Durr at www.alexdurr.com .

Step 1: Create armature attached to a lazy Susan


Step 2: Flesh out armature with newspaper and masking tape

Step 3: Cover newspaper form with plaster cloth


Step 4: Apply initial layer of plasticine facial masses and plains

Step 5: Establish basic features and likeness

*Double click on images to enlarge

Plutarch and Pogo

Every night, for the past couple weeks, I've ended the day reading Plutarch's Lives. I returned from vacation with a couple musty cardboard boxes filled with the complete Collier's 1908 edition of The Harvard Classics. I inherited these elegant leatherbound volumes from my now deceased step-dad, Andy Frantz. His father purchased the collection shortly after returning from the Great War, marrying and setting up the home that Andy grew up and ultimately ended his days in. Andy was a former Army para-trooper and salt-of-the-earth Pennsylvania Dutchman. Judging from their condition these books were probably placed on their shelves sometime in the early 1920s and never troubled again until I boxed them up in December '06. Andy was famous for a vast library of corny jokes, but not for comments even remotely footnoted to Plutarch's Lives, let alone anything else in The Harvard Classics. Andy was no Charlie Tuna.

It was only by pure chance that the first volume I pulled out was #12, Plutarch's Lives. As of last night, thanks to the absence of any interferring romantic life, I finished reading all the Greek lives. As mentioned several times in earlier postings, I'm a BIG fan of Victor Davis Hanson. As a practicing academic Professor Hanson is a world authority on the Greeks. Very early in the War on Terrorism he penned more than one cautionary article referenced to the Peloponnesian Wars on the propensity of democracys to eat their young, and at the end of the day be their own worst enemy.

Reading Plutarch's accounts of four Greek Athenian leaders was sometimes difficult.....even in English. But one thing was very clear, these leaders were often in dammed if you do and dammed if you don't situations. Time and again these Athenian leaders found themselves succeeding in some far off battlefield while simultaneously the object of naysaying and convoluted conspiracy theories back at home. They would either return from a decisive campaign to a judicial process resulting in a death sentence or a ten year ostracism, or having gotten wind of pending proceedings, fleeing to safer shores. And just as predictably the Athenians, when faced with some new evolving threat, would recall them from exile to be followed by still another cycle of conspiracy theories, accusations, ostracism and exile. The net result, judging by the final outcome of Phase 5 of the Peloponnesian war in 404 BC, was not good for the Athenians. Pogo, a cartoon character speaking a couple millennia later in 1970 probably summed it up in his famous quote, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

The last of the four historical accounts is that of Alcibiades. With this tale the final drama of the Peloponnesian War is acted out. Alcibiades has been recalled from one of his exiles and finds himself at the head of a mighty Athenian armada. Yet again, no sooner is he back at the helm of Athenian forces and far afield that political machinations at home set in motion another, and as it turns out, final irreversible and disasterous undermining of Alcibiades' leadership.

Here's the quote from Plutarch's narrative that signals the downward spiral to defeat for Athenian democracy:

They fancied, every day, that they should hear news of the reduction of Chios, and of the rest of Ionia, and grew impatient that things were not effected as fast and as rapidly as they could wish for them. They never considered how extremely money was wanting, and that, having to carry on war with an enemy who had supplies of all things from a great king, he was often forced to quit his armament, in order to procure money and provisions for the subsistence of his soldiers.

In short, the Athenians had unrealistic expectations and little or no awareness of the reality of the situation in the field. This next quote is the gist of the spin Alcibiades' political enemies, capitalizing on disenchantment at home, promoted about the state of the war under his command:

Addressing the people, he represented that Alcibiades had ruined their affairs and lost their ships by mere self-conceited neglect of his duties, committing the government of the army, in his absence, to men who gained his favor by drinking and scurrilous talking, whilst he wandered up and down at pleasure to raise money, giving himself up to every sort of luxury and excess amongst the courtesans of Abydos and Ionia, at a time when the enemy’s navy were on the watch close at hand. It was also objected to him, that he had fortified a castle near Bisanthe in Thrace, for a safe retreat for himself, as one that either could not, or would not, live in his own country. The Athenians gave credit to these informations, and showed the resentment and displeasure which they had conceived against him, by choosing other generals.

Despite his removal from power Alcibiades attempted to advise and warn the new leadership about the coming battle, only to be rebuffed and rebuked:

He advised them to remove the fleet to Sestos. But the admirals not only disregarded what he said, but Tydeus, with insulting expressions; commanded him to be gone, saying, that now not he, but others, had the command of the forces. Alcibiades, suspecting something of treachery in them, departed, and told his friends, who accompanied him out of the camp, that if the generals had not used him with such insupportable contempt, he would within a few days have forced the Lacedæmonians, however unwilling, either to have fought the Athenians at sea, or to have deserted their ships.

Alcibiades' expertise is rejected and his prescience ignored. Athenian defeat is utterly complete. Hindsight for the now humiliated Athenians is 20/20, as this final quote reveals, with the all to late realization they had met the ultimate enemy, themselves.

The Athenians, in the meantime, were miserably afflicted at their loss of empire, but when they were deprived of liberty also, and Lysander set up thirty despotic rulers in the city, in their ruin now they began to turn to those thoughts which, while safety was yet possible, they would not entertain; they acknowledged and bewailed their former errors and follies, and judged this second ill-usage of Alcibiades to be of all the most inexcusable. For he was rejected, without any fault committed by himself; and only because they were incensed against his subordinate for having shamefully lost a few ships, they much more shamefully deprived the commonwealth of its most valiant and accomplished general.

I find myself thinking in particular of Winston Churchill. I imagine that feisty curmudgeon in all his jowly glory with a cigar stub in one V for victory hand and a Thompson submachine gun at the ready in the other. He, like Alcibiades, was the kind of guy you'd find in glass case with the words "Break Open in Time of War" stenciled in big bright blood red red letters on the front. I have a pretty good idea Winston read Plutarch's Lives. Ole "W"'s probably no match for Churchill, but he's as close as we're going to get this time around.

Here at the end of another day, contemplating further reading of Plutarch (the Romans come next), I can't help but wonder which I should entertain more hope for, my love life or the political will and resolve of my beloved country. In at least one of these I'm perhaps my own worse enemy. Which one? That I leave to you dear reader.

A Thousand Cats

Hey all. Sorry for being off-line for so long. I took some much needed vacation over the holidays. Since coming off of leave time has been quickly devoured with all the sundry tasks related to putting together a museum show. There's a catalogue to design, all the pieces for the show photographed for a variety of uses, and written material to update and create. My "artist's statement" needs to be expanded to reflect two additional deployments, and the head curator of the hosting museum, the James A. Michener Art Museum, asked for a half-dozen text panels to accompany the show. The framing of new pieces, and eventual layout, appraising, insuring and transportation of the entire show has to be arranged, financed and scheduled. The catalogue has to be finished and a printer engaged. AND, I'm writing an article about another project I was instrumental in, the Marine Corps Combat Art Prints 2006, for the March issue of Leatherneck magazine.

Although the show is six months off, there is a sense of urgency behind getting the lion's share of exhibit preparation done by the end of February. Why is that? This February 18th will find me down at Camp Lejeune going through pre-deployment training. Sometime during the month of March my boots will find themselves back on the ground in Iraq covering the "surge" for approximately three months. Sergeant Battles, our deployed artist, is transitioning home and I'm the next of our three combat artists in the rotation cycle.

Like most of you I follow the news very closely. The other morning Michelle Malkin appeared on the Fox News morning show to talk about her recent visit to Iraq. What she related, both at her website and in the Fox interview, reflect my "boots-in-the-dirt" experiences. In truth, the war will be won or lost not in the back alleys of Baghdad and Ramadi, but here in the political mean streets of America. For myself I find no greater clarity with regards to the present state of American politics than in the incredibly lucid writings of Victor Davis Hanson.

For most GIs there is a gross disconnect between our real-time experiences in Iraq and the way the situation is portrayed and percieved on the homefront. The morale and dedication of those actually conducting the mission is high while at the same time the corresponding will of the American body politic is deteriorating. How is this possible? I had a journalist explain it to me this way, "if there's a thousand cats and there's one up in the tree, the one in the tree gets covered." One of our History Division historians, Lt Col Kurt Wheeler (a Harvard grad), posted recently about his up close and personal impressions of the progress of the mission and the sentiments of the Marines in Iraq that bears witness to the stories behind the thousand cats on the ground. Dr. Sanity did a great expose' January 19th on this cognitive disconnect with respect to current events entitled Bambi Meets Godzilla and Other Weird Cartoons of the Modern World, you may find interesting reading.

At anyrate, as one of the thousand cats not up in the tree, I promise to continue to tell my story.

Merry Christmas!

Recon Hill by Charles Grow This is pen and ink work at its very best.

Emergency Medical Center by Peter Michael Gish Colonel Gish's watercolors are as good as anything Sargent ever did.

Mockup for Leatherneck magazine Halloween issue during WWII by Tom Lovell

Corporal Duff Chapman by John McDermott That young/old look etched on the face of a Marine on Okinawa

"Straggler" by Donald Dickson WWII Marine on Guadalcanal

"Country Slim" Guillory by Ben Long

Captain James K. Hall by Henry Casselli Drawn from life after an intense night of combat in Vietnam

The past three weeks have found me working on the initial "to do" checklist for a museum show of my work slated for next summer. On December 4th I met with Brian Peterson, the head curator for the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. The Michener Museum is world renown for its collection of Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings, and the creations of internationally recognized woodworker George Nakashima. The Pennsylvania School of Impressionism is also known as the Bucks County, and the New Hope Schools. The exhibit will be July 7th thru October 21, 2007. I hope many of you living in the Mid-Atlantic region will get a chance to see the show. Doylestown, New Hope and nearby Lambertville, NJ make for a great romantic weekend trip.

The show will feature a cross section of pieces from my four deployments over the last five years. At the suggestion of Mr. Peterson we're also including a selection of works by other combat artists from the Marine Corps Combat Art Collection that have been an inspiration to me. The images I'm posting today are a few of the pieces that have deeply influenced my work.

Sergeant Kris Battles continues to post some wonderful images and commentary over at his blog Sketchpad Warrior. Please go over, give his work a gander and leave him a nice Christmas greeting.

Mortarmen at Haditha....Finished

"Danger Close" Oil on canvas, 20x16

The title of this finished oil painting is "Danger Close". Danger close is a phrase used when friendlies are dropping things that go boom, whether 2000 pounders or 81mm mortar rounds, just about on top of your position. The tube of this gun is as vertical as it can get, and what goes up must come down.......in this case very close.

The past couple weeks I've steered clear of ranting about the present state of affairs engendered by the recent mid-term elections. Like alot of you I'm more than a little burned out with the current state of politics in the world....especially in the Western World. Victor Davis Hanson hits every nail on the head with his recent commentary Losing the Enlightenment.

I doubt if Hanson reads Fire and Ice, but he eloquently touched on virtually every situation that has set my teeth on edge since 9/11 with regards to the so-called liberal progressive left, the greatest benefactors of Western Civilization. He speaks of their rampant complacency and self-loathing, the malaise of perfectionism, the inability to confront evil as evil, and the basic ignorance of how our collective bread gets buttered in the first place. Please go and read this piece!

Sergeant Kris Battles has just returned from an extended time out in the "goo" and has made a lengthy entry (with art to follow) over at his blog Sketchpad Warrior. You can also view and listen to Sergeant Battles talk about his experiences at a site called Ends of the Earth Productions.

Photo......As Promised

History and Museums Division Field History Detachment (I'm back row, far right)

This past Saturday evening my Marine Corps Reserve unit had its annual Marine Corps Birthday celebration. One of our members, Major Joe Winslow, surprised us with the presentation of medals and membership in a newly created military order, the Military Order of St. Nicholas. (A photo of the event will follow.)

The precedence for this medal and order goes back to the George Medal of Guadalcanal fame. Major Winslow in his civilian career is an uber talented industrial/commercial designer and fabricator. You can check out his company's website here.

Here is the background for the Military Order of St. Nicholas according to Major Winslow:

Similar to the George Medal of WWII, this is an informal medal to recognize the the efforts of Field Historians.

The medal is based on an Iraqi Army badge. The Marine Corps EGA is super-imposed on a Persian star, surrounded by palm fronds, from under which radiates the bright rays of the desert sun. I hand sculpted the medal in plaster, poured a firing mold from concrete used to rebuild parts of the MEF(fwd) HQ building, and workded with Seabees and their torches to cast the first prototype-all this aboard Camp Fallujah, literally while the camp was at times under mortar and rocket fire. The silver was shipped to Iraq by a metal dealer in Texas. The final medals were cast by a retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant Guadalcanal veteran.

The Society is named after Colonel Nicholas Reynolds, who drafted the first Field Historians for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, and saw to it that they were deployed to the opening salvos of what has turned into a rather long and historic engagement....

The Society is an association of Field Historians who have deployed to combat zones in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, and others, who have served the History Detachment in a beneficial manner. Form and function is similar to the Artillery Order of St. Barbara. All that being said, it's generally a way to ensure we have yet another occasion to get togther for a beer or two.

National Museum of the Marine Corps Pics

Last Monday I spent the day doing a "gallery talk" of sorts at the newly opened National Museum of the Marine Corps. I was invited by the educational staff to share about my experiences as a combat artist and to work with kids wanting to draw a picture to send to the Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. For those that are new to Fire and Ice, my academic background and occasional civilian career is in art and special education.

A good friend and coffee shop compatriot, Robert Martin, a photographer for our local newspaper, The Free-Lance Star, was on assignment covering this first day the museum was open to the general public. If you go here you can see a slide show of the pictures he shot, which include two of yours truly.

War Rant Officer

Hey everyone, sorry I've been off-line for a bit. Myself and two historians spent the better part of last week touring the various activities aboard the US Naval Base at Guantanamo, Cuba. We visited the Marines manning the fence line, the Joint Task Force detainee facility and walked the Cuzco Wells Battlefield of Spanish American War fame. The Marines of the security force company graciously invited us to and paid for our attendance at their Marine Corps Ball on 10 November.

All this activity took some of the edge off the election results. Though expected, the turn-over of Congressional and Senatorial power to the Dems is disappointing during this time of war. They'll no doubt outlaw war, and we'll all be able to go home and I'll be able to stop my war rants.

As might be expected, there isn't much I can share with you substantively about our visit to Cuba. I can tell you that the conditions under which the terrorist detainees live are far better than you can possibly imagine. And, if you compare their detention with the treatment of our few unfortunate POWs (torture and beheadings), the difference statistically would have to be expressed in astronomical percentages.

Unfortunately my digital camera has had to be turned in for repairs, so until I can borrow another these postings will be short on pics. However, if you go over to the Leatherneck Magazine website, you can see a two page spread of my work appearing in this month's issue. Click on the "Contents" section top left of the page, and then click on "38 Faces in a Combat Zone". Note: click on the "Faces in a Combat Zone" and the images will enlarge.

Then and Now

Then-1945 Flags of Our Fathers



Now-2006 Banners of Our Brothers

Go Army! Hooah! (I never thought those words would ever cross these old jarhead lips!)

Few things are as powerful in communicating an idea or a sentiment as imagery....music comes close, but pictures are worth the proverbial thousand words. And there are those few images that manage to speak volumes and arrive on the scene with perfect timing. Here are two.

My career in the Marines has encompassed a number of fields; infantry mortarman, bookkeeper, helicopter avionicsman and crewchief, classified materials custodian, and now combat artist. You would probably assume that being a middle-age artist running around in the thick of a fire fight with 20 year olds tops the list of challenges I've faced.....WRONG. The toughest job, bar none, ever served up by the Marines to me has been recruiting duty.

I won't regale you with war stories from the recruiting trenches.....and there are plenty. My old retired gunny buddy and I every now and again brainstorm the idea of writing a sitcom based on this unforgiving duty. In the course of an average week recruiters get exposed to and involved in situations worthy of a Greek play...Irony, Tragedy and Comedy...it's all there in spades.

By the end of my tour I was actually going through the process of legally immigrating to Canada. My wife at the time was a citizen of the Great White North and we were Nova Scotia bound. Why share this with you? Because after 3 years of working 6 and 7 day weeks from sunup to many a midnight I was completely burned out with what seasoned recruiters refer to as the greatest threat to democracy and western civilization; Moms of America. For the better part of three years I bit my tongue listening, in one form or another, to how enlisting in the military was a waste of time and talent. If elitist upper middle class condescension could kill I'd be a dead man many times over.(It was amazing to me how many parents still thought we were recruiting from the inside of judges chambers.) I recruited in the whitebread Washington, DC suburb of Fairfax County, Virginia. The attitudes that people go in the military by default and not design, and somebody elses kid should serve was rampant. During that tour I managed to be Marine Recruiter of the Year twice. I was pretty good at countering this mentality......but at the end of the day I was toast.

So, little wonder the good senator from Taxachusettes hit a raw nerve with me. He apparently apologized today. Vice-President Cheney, someone who can be funny, had a great one liner about "he was for the joke before he was against the joke". We can now add that he was against the apology before he was for it. Waffles anyone? The bottom line for me is that he voiced a prevalent and pervasive sentiment meant to play well in the ears of the Dem's constituency, a college campus crowd. His hand got caught in the cookie jar. That's the only thing he's probably genuinely sorry about.

I don't think many in the military really give a hoot one way or the other about this apology. The sentiment that joining the service is a waste is something all of us have had to deal with in one form or another, and often with those closest to us. It's a first cousin to "I support the troops but not the war" mentality.

At the end of the day we're just left feeling a little like the cavemen characters in the GEICO Insurance TV commercials....readily stereotyped, slightly forgotten and easily marginalized. Little wonder that just as there are few atheists in foxholes, there are even fewer Democrats.........and I should know, I was once both.