April 28th 2009 - Kick off

My time at Kandahar nearly at its end. Moving to Bastion soon to kick off my deployment with my unit. My main priority is getting shop set up and functional ASAP. I think I'm off to a good start on getting some photos out here. Ive received some awesome comments and support so far from a lot of people, thank you all! I was fortunate enough to find a terrific model for the next installment in my ‘Women in War’ photo series I started in Iraq. She did an awesome job and we walked away with some photos that I feel accurately portrays what I see and who is really over here. People often think of this war as another news story, especially people who don’t know someone that is/has been here. I feel its my job to allow the rest of the world to see that there are real people here doing very real things that are important to the safety of the world. They do it selflessly and without asking anything in return, except a bigger pay check and to go home on time ;-). I do find it amazing how the people in every unit have this unbelievable motivation to do their job to the best of their ability day in and day out. It is very easy to let the redundancy of day to day activities can take its toll on your moral and attitude. Below are the photos from the shoot with Jennifer.

April 17th, 2009

After flying with HMH-361, I feel like Ive made good use of the short time Ive been here. One of the worst feelings a photographer has is being in a place where great photos can be taken and not taking any. So for now my craving is satisfied, but who knows how long that will last..... A few of my photos are available for viewing on here, and facebook but I will make them available on Flickr as well as my website www.corysmithphotography.com
Sometimes when I lie awake at night I wonder what will happen the next day, every day so far has been different which is good because it helps pass the time. But I also get too busy to do some of the things I need to do. As the days pass rather quickly I wonder if Im making the most of them, I guess you could say so....

Apr 9 2009 - Like Clockwork

its becoming a pattern, 19:58 go to the bunkers because at 20:00 there is a rocket attack. I had no idea it would be this frequent. But what can you do other than hope it doesnt hit near you? Eh....On the other hand I am not wasting any time getting photos. I should be flying sometime next week, Im pretty stoked as you could imagine. Getting to work is a pain. There is supposed to be a bus that goes around every 20 min or so but thats in a perfect world. Its literally random, sometimes you can luck out and wait 5 min, but other times you can be waiting like an hour. On top of that the bus drivers think they can treat the bus however they want to because its a govvy and they dont have to pay for it. Thus they take the worst roads on the base. I think I should start wearing a helmet when I ride on these buses before I get another concussion...

April 2nd 2009

I suppose I'll make my first "in theater" entry now.... Getting here was not the worst moving experience but darn close to it. 2nd only to getting to Iraq. But its not over, we still have a month or so left here at Kandahar till we go down to Camp Bastion... So many things here are too familiar. The sky, the smell, the sounds, and the inconveniences. But for now my attitude remains positive, its most likely going to change so I'll make record of it now to prove I once wanted to be here. For now I'm looking forward to getting my car paid off and getting my tests done for picking up Sgt. Hopefully I'll have time for that this weekend. Heh...I write weekend like they exist for me anymore. lol.... But I remember what got to me last deployment. The little things. Like bloody noses, not having a bathroom attached to my living quarters, and fast internet. But its all that and some more this time around, and by more i mean big problems. We got rocketed or IDF'd last night. So that means at any given time I could just be vaporized by a rocket. Comforting to know. I'll leave it at that for tonight.

March 28th 2009

I don't think the reality of this deployment has hit me in full yet. As I sit here on this plane, many emotions Ive previously felt during my last deployment surface again and make me feel the same way I did last time. Anxiety, nervousness, stress, fear, and happiness. Anxiety because there has been so much hype around this deployment... I'm just ready to get this thing started. nervousness because Ive been questioning myself for some time about how i might react in certain situations that are work related. stressed for a number of reasons. stuff like wondering if all my bags got on the plane even though I saw all 4 of them get loaded. Fear of the unknown is always in everyone's emotions I would assume. but even with all of that running though my head Im happy. I feel its a great opportunity for me to finance some of my future trips, get some great photos along the way, and above all else, make sure everyone gets home on time. That is all for now. Going to try to get a few hours of sleep before we land in Manas.