[Heie]

Hey all,

I finally got a response back from the edit and I was given permission to post the story here. I asked if I could do it in full since it was a while ago and they have a weekly circulation, and that was granted. And so, if you missed it (or by likely chance you are not in the United Kingdom, which is where Amateur Photographer Magazine is based), here it is

I would take a screen shot of the article and post the pics here, however the first "two" pages are actually four since they did it horizontally across both flaps, and that just wouldn't be very readable if I posted it like that. As such, here is the .pdf for your full, unadulterated pleasure

CLICK ON THIS --> Amateur Photographer Magazine - Welcome to Afghanistan.pdf

Regarding the first photograph, I don't know why the .pdf has such a terrible resolution - the print version (which I have ) is just fine. Here is that photograph should you be curious of what it looks like without being pixelated.



As always, thank you for all your support when it came to the deployment photo project.

Additionally, along the same vein, have any of you tried to visit my deployment update threads recently? If so, you would have noticed that a very abrupt change had happened - that all the content was removed...

Apparently one of my peer officers (another lieutenant) found the project as a result of me showing it to him to receive approval to participate in an offer to be interviewed and featured in a segment by CBS News. He then overreacted in his inexperience and utter incompetence (I cringe knowing that he is a commissioned officer in the United States Army for reasons completely unrelated to this), to the point that many, many flags were raised to very high levels of my chain of command regarding my possible violation of OPSEC (Operations Security) on numerous occasions over the course of the project's duration (one year). After two weeks of no sleep and frantic waiting to hear anything, and wondering if I would be investigated to the point of court martial (a term that was in fact thrown around, further elevating my anxiety), I was told that no one at the higher echelons had deemed this worthy of further review (at least that was the assumption made by the complete lack of any further inquiry from top-down after the initial report was sent up). Regardless, that first day the flags were raised, I was ordered to remove all the images and text from the entire project. Upon discovering a more competent unit intelligence analyst, I will attempt to re-validate my content for display. I can't possibly convey my disappointment at the situation, especially when I had to delete everything - I would spend hours and sometimes even days during the process of publishing each post. Please accept my humblest apologies for any inconveniences that this situation may have caused.

-Heie

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Last edited by Heie; 05-08-2013 at 09:24 AM.

[LaurenOE]

Awesome for the article. Not so awesome about the last paragraph above.

[Jean Poitiers]

Awesome for the article. Not so awesome about the last paragraph above.

Yes, congratulations for the article, and I really regretted to read about the second half of your post.

I read and appreciated your deployment series. Thanks again, J

[blackcloudbrew]

I wish you success on getting some reason back in the process. From this retired officer's viewpoint, all of the images I've seen you post over the years are just nice images of places and things. I saw no other value to them. Best of luck.

[altopiet]

To be honest Alex, I was under the impression you had permission, as security forces, to my knowledge, do not usually like any publicity at all...
I hope you succeed in getting permission. Thank you for keeping us informed, and sharing your experiences with us....

[LaurenOE]

Whatever comes of your images Alex, know that I have never seen such an awesome telling of what you went through anywhere else in the media/web. Your images spun a human side to the conflict. Your images re-set my opinions concerning Afghanistan. When it's all over for the U.S.A. over there, your images will stand the test of time. Kudos for doing something as a young man, that will resonate in a positive light for the rest of your life. I'm glad I was here to be a part of it.

[panoguy]

many, many flags were raised to very high levels of my chain of command regarding my possible violation of OPSEC

Wow. Just wow. I really enjoyed reading all of your deployment updates, and from my experience (which you know about) saw absolutely nothing to raise a flag, even by early-90's standards (when "image sharing" was sending a roll of film home - nothing like the GoPro->Youtube expressway of today!). You even made a point of delaying your posts until long after operations, and mentioning your caution! Every image you posted is one that you and your fellow servicemen can be proud of, and shows much more of the "humble reality" than what is sensationalized on CNN or FoxNews for the "chickenhawks" in their armchairs.

[Giklab]

I enjoyed reading those... I hope you a) will be allowed to get back to them and b) don't get fired and/or thrown into jail.

[MRRiley]

Congrats on the AP article!

Too bad about the "investigation." As a retired Air Force guy I never saw anything in any of the shots that would have caused any OPSEC issues.

Mike

[Giklab]

On a related note, did anybody take screencaps?

[RonHendriks1966]

Absolute fantastic job done Heie.

[kcmadr]

I wonder if PF has any backups going far back enough to restore the content.

[Heie]

Thank you everyone - really appreciate it. Like I said, and it seems the veterans here corroborate my assertion, he is just an incompetent that I paid the price for. I had a feeling to not go through him (I could have just bypassed and went higher up), but it was much quicker to just go to him since it was in person as opposed to someone at another base in Germany (where I am stationed if you weren't aware). Lesson learned...

To be honest Alex, I was under the impression you had permission, as security forces, to my knowledge, do not usually like any publicity at all...

No, I did not have permission, however my chain of command in Afghanistan was aware of it, and even my Battalion Command Sergeant Major (the highest ranking enlisted soldier in a battalion, think over hundreds of soldiers) personally requested to have the updates sent to him as soon as I published the new ones. I used my own judgment as to what was publishable, what wasn't, and if there was any grey area, I made the call regarding if, when (maybe a time delay), or with certain parts of images blacked out. I am 100% confident in my stating there was no err in judgment on my behalf during this project, however in the military it isn't what I think...

Whatever comes of your images Alex, know that I have never seen such an awesome telling of what you went through anywhere else in the media/web. Your images spun a human side to the conflict. Your images re-set my opinions concerning Afghanistan. When it's all over for the U.S.A. over there, your images will stand the test of time. Kudos for doing something as a young man, that will resonate in a positive light for the rest of your life. I'm glad I was here to be a part of it.

Wow...just....thank you, Lauren.

Also, the put the cherry on top, my harddrives were corrupted (both - my laptop and my backup external) during the final week in Afghanistan. I am currently trying to recover images, however they are corrupted beyond repair as I see it, including the RAW files. This project, even at their lower resolution, was my only remaining photographic record of my year in Afghanistan...

Thanks again everyone

-Heie

[LaurenOE]

Also, the put the cherry on top, my harddrives were corrupted (both - my laptop and my backup external) during the final week in Afghanistan. I am currently trying to recover images, however they are corrupted beyond repair as I see it, including the RAW files. This project, even at their lower resolution, was my only remaining photographic record of my year in Afghanistan...

-Heie

Do not throw your hard drive away!!!
The images are there, trust me.
When you are in town next, bring it, and I'm pretty sure we can get the images off.

[Heie]

Do not throw your hard drive away!!! The images are there, trust me. When you are in town next, bring it, and I'm pretty sure we can get the images off.

Oh they are there alright - here's one now



Also, I tried taking my laptop hard drive and plugging it into my desktop, however it had a clicking sound every 7-8 seconds. I think it is dead, but not 100% sure because the clicking isn't every second like every youtube video seems to portray