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It's 1
p.m.,
Aug. 16,
2006, on
a
white-hot
highway
70 miles
west of
Baghdad.
One
soldier
is down
after
being
hit by a
sniper,
and
bullets
kick up
dust a
few
yards
from Air
Force
Tech.
Sgt.
Jeremy
T. Lock.
“Cover
me!” he
yells to
a U.S.
gunner.
Adrenaline
floods
his
body,
and he
runs as
fast as
he can,
faster
than he
thought
possible,
to get
even
closer
to the
action.
Armed
with a
Nikon
digital
camera,
Lock
starts
shooting
...
photographs.
Lock
photographed
soldiers
crouching
behind
cars as
bullets
whizzed
in from
a field.
He
turned
his lens
toward
the
soldiers
tending
to the
fallen
GI. Lock
saw they
needed a
hand. He
picked
up the
wounded
soldier's
M-4
rifle
and
provided
cover
until
the GI
was
pulled
to
safety.
Lock
then
switched
back to
his
camera.
The
wounded
soldier
survived.
It was
this
battle
and
Lock's
ability
to
switch
from
photographer
to
fighter
in a
split
second
without
thought
that
earned
him a
Bronze
Star. As
a
15-year
Air
Force
photographer
that is
assigned
to the
1st
Combat
Camera
Squadron
at
Charleston
Air
Force
Base,
South
Carolina,
he
routinely
braves
bullets
and
bombs to
tell the
military's
story
through
the
lenses
of his
Nikon
cameras.
He has
photographed
U.S.
servicemembers
in
action
during
multiple
tours in
Afghanistan
and
Iraq. He
has
participated
in more
than 90
missions
occurring
“outside
the
wire”
resulting
in more
than
2,350 of
the
highest
quality
still
images
that are
used to
record
history.
Combat
photographers
are
generally
paired
with
military
combat
videographers
and are
embedded
with
units.
They
accompany
those
units as
they
perform
their
missions. |
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One of
Lock's
most
poignant
photos
among
his
award
winning
portfolio
was
taken in
Iraq in
August
2006.
The
image
depicts
a
grimacing
Iraqi
citizen
lying in
a Ramadi
street.
He had
been
caught
in the
middle
of a
firefight
between
U.S.
troops
and
insurgents,
according
to Lock.
“We
really
don't
know who
shot
him,”
Lock
recalled.
“We did
a
traffic
control
stop,
and
right
before
we
mounted
up, one
of our
soldiers
took a
bullet
to the
back and
we got
into a
gunfight.
After
searching
houses,
this guy
was
found
lying
wounded
on his
side.”
The
Iraqi
had been
hit in
the hip,
Lock
said,
noting
the
injured
man
received
medical
treatment
by U.S.
medics
and
survived.
The
wounded
Iraqi's
photo
was
intentionally
taken
from an
angle,
Lock
noted.
“I just
tried to
show the
viewer
something
different
than
what the
normal
eye
would
see,”
the
veteran
photographer
explained.
“A good
photo
will
tell the
whole
story in
a
split-second
of a
frame,”
Lock
said.
“It
leaves a
lasting
impression
and will
be
etched
into
your
mind.”
Lock's
photos
have won
many
awards
and also
appeared
in major
publications
such as
the New
York
Times
and the
LA
Times.
Whenever
he
accompanies
a unit,
Lock
arms
himself
with two
Nikon
D2X
digital
cameras
and a 9
mm
Beretta
automatic,
so that
when
he's
with a
team, be
it Army,
Marines
or
Special
Forces,
he is an
asset,
instead
of being
a
liability.
He said
he takes
turns
with the
troops
he
accompanies,
watching
each
other's
backs.
Lock
recalls
being
shot at
numerous
times
during
his
tours in
war-zones.
During
firefights,
“adrenalin
starts
rushing,
and your
training
kicks
in,”
Lock
explained.
“I tend
not to
be
scared
until
the
night
before a
mission
or just
afterward.”
For
Lock,
the
medal is
a
reminder
of the
inherent
risks in
capturing
images
of war,
along
with the
difficult
decisions
they
sometimes
make.
Lock
summarizes
it well
when he
says
most
photographers
aren't
faced
with the
choice
of
shooting
a
photograph
or a
person.
Excerpts
taken
from
article
by
dippold,
July 17,
2007 and
The Post
and
Courier,
Charleston,
SC,
January
31, 2007
(via the
Dept. of
Defense)
... Photo and information courtesy
of US
Air
Force /
Dept. of
Defense |
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