"These aren't the droids you're looking for..."
Anyone else find the caption on this picture, from Combat Camera, a little funny?
Now, I know the caption only mentions two soldiers, but if you look really closely, you might be able to spot a third fellow. I know he's tough to pick out of the background, since there's obviously some sort of technological magic that makes the eye slide away from the negative space between the two named soldiers, but if you concentrate as hard as you can, you might be able to see a gent dressed in some sort of desert fatigues (with no identifying patches or markings), a black balaclava, and dark sunglasses.
Heaven forbid we should even acknowledge his presence, eh? I mean, the special operators and/or spooks would have whelped kittens if the Combat Camera guys had said "Canadian soldiers Captain Geoff Marshall, left, of the Canadian Provincial Reconstruction Team, Captain Francis Conliffe of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, and an unnamed allied individual meet with Haji Abdul Khaliq, District Leader for Spin Boldak, at his home near the Canadian Forward Operating Base (FOB) Spin Boldak, Afghanistan." Too risky, that.
If you don't want anyone to know you're meeting with a special ops type or a spy, just get him to step out of the picture for a moment. But ignoring his presence in an official photo?
Sometimes all you can do is laugh.
Update: Well, more than two years later, I've received confirmation the mystery man is a terp. Gotta love the magic of 'teh interwebs'.
Canadian soldiers Captain Geoff Marshall, left, of the Canadian Provincial Reconstruction Team, and Captain Francis Conliffe of the Royal Canadian Dragoons meet with Haji Abdul Khaliq, District Leader for Spin Boldak, at his home near the Canadian Forward Operating Base (FOB) Spin Boldak, Afghanistan. The aim of the meeting was to discuss further reconstruction efforts in the Spin Boldak region.
Now, I know the caption only mentions two soldiers, but if you look really closely, you might be able to spot a third fellow. I know he's tough to pick out of the background, since there's obviously some sort of technological magic that makes the eye slide away from the negative space between the two named soldiers, but if you concentrate as hard as you can, you might be able to see a gent dressed in some sort of desert fatigues (with no identifying patches or markings), a black balaclava, and dark sunglasses.
Heaven forbid we should even acknowledge his presence, eh? I mean, the special operators and/or spooks would have whelped kittens if the Combat Camera guys had said "Canadian soldiers Captain Geoff Marshall, left, of the Canadian Provincial Reconstruction Team, Captain Francis Conliffe of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, and an unnamed allied individual meet with Haji Abdul Khaliq, District Leader for Spin Boldak, at his home near the Canadian Forward Operating Base (FOB) Spin Boldak, Afghanistan." Too risky, that.
If you don't want anyone to know you're meeting with a special ops type or a spy, just get him to step out of the picture for a moment. But ignoring his presence in an official photo?
Sometimes all you can do is laugh.
Update: Well, more than two years later, I've received confirmation the mystery man is a terp. Gotta love the magic of 'teh interwebs'.
posted by Babbling Brooks at 10:46 a.m.
4 Comments:
Personally, I thought the caption was funny for saying "Spin Boldak" three times in 31 words.
But yeah, I guess your thing's good too. :)
Am I way outta line, or is there the potential that the chappie in the balaclava is an interpreter? I've noticed in some IRQ photos, the translators sometimes are in US uniforms, but in balaclavas and/or "cowboy-style" handkerchiefs across the face.
In fact, a couple of other photos:
http://tinyurl.com/2xj9df
http://tinyurl.com/yvcb6t
include Mystery Man (without referring to him in the caption), and he doesn't seem to be wearing Cadpat, further increasing my suspicion that he's an indig translator.
Even then, Tony, you have to wonder why every other person in the photo is acknowledged other than him.
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