A picture is worth a 1,000 After Action Reports…

Submitted by Eric Daniel

In the six months I was in SW Asia for Desert Shield and Desert Storm I fired off close to 40 rolls of 35mm film.  High speed, low speed, B&W and color.  Not only did I have to wait until I got back to Europe to develop the film (and at the time we had a SERIOUS problem with pictures coming up missing (i.e. the folks at the photo lab were stealing them) but when all was said and done, about 70% of the pictures were “crap” and not nearly as interesting as I thought they’d be when I took the picture in the first place. 

Such is the reality of print photography; you take a lot of pictures hoping to get one or two “keepers.”

Thanks to digital camera technology however, taking pictures got a whole lot easier.  When I deployed for OIF III in November of 04, I was given a Canon Power Shot A75.  It is a neat little camera.  It has a 3.2 mega pixel image capability (which is pretty tiny by current standards) automatic flash, 3x zoom capability, and is capable of making movies.

While it isn’t nearly as flexible as my Canon AE-1 SLR 35mm camera, it is significantly more durable, reliable, and combat friendly.  While on patrol the A75 gave me the capability of taking a quick picture of anything I thought militarily significant.  Someone give you the “evil eye” while on a patrol?  No problem.  Take their picture and store it for review later.  See a car or truck that you remember from somewhere?  No problem, take a picture and compare notes when you get back to base.  Furthermore, because the images are stored digitally, they’re easy to transfer between devices, and it’s no big deal if you end up deleting 99% of them.  Lastly, carrying additional memory cards, which are pretty tiny and don’t take up a lot of space, gives you the capability of taking a lot of pictures (or movies) if the situation requires.

While the A75 is dated and there are definitely more capable cameras out there, mine still works and it was free.

Buy a Canon digital camera here

Comments

[SGT K]

I was a turret gunner in an 1114 in OIF II (I'm confused about your dates for OIF III, because I was in Iraq 04 to 05 and that was called OIF II...) All of the gunners in my Squad had digital cameras with them, and collectively we took hundreds of images every day.

Aside from the "hey, that looks cool" images, we also took pictures of stuff in our patrol sector. Was that thing there yesterday? Is that hole getting bigger? Is that the same guy on that roof as yesterday? That sort of thing.

As well as - This is where the Sniper was. That is the window we took fire from. This is the hole the IED made. This vehicle sped off after the IED went off on our convoy.

Speaking of convoys, when we had the privilidge of escorting trucks, we would often take pictures of the front of every truck (with the driver) just before leaving the wire and counting the vehicles out. That way, when we got to our destination and there was a mix up, we could ID the guy by his photo.

A digital camera is as handy a tool as any you could carry with you in country.

[Tina]

I purchased a Canon Powershot A570 7.1 megapixel about 6 months ago and it certainly is standing the test of time. Though I am no longer in the military, the durability and functions of this camera are top notch for the price. I had a choice of a newer, more compact version, but the salesman noticed I am a mother and that a durable (and better quality) camera would be best. It also has a built in stability function and I can take pictures while in a moving vehicle or while running/walking and they come out great.

[Nicholas]

If you want to bump one step up and get "pro-level" photos with an idiot proof camera, Canon digital rebels are a good deal: I've done a lot of photography at the NTC (I'm a civilian photo dork/soon to be war photographer--long story) and that's camera I use.

I can take around 1000 pictures on the memory card, and extra rechargeable batteries are relatively cheap. Plus, when you get back to the States you can enlarge those suckers up to at least 20x30" if you want.