November 2022 - Salina Library
November 11th 1918 was the end of World War One and was celebrated as Armistice Day.

That day has become Verterans Day celebrating the warriors, not the end of war.

November 7, 1967 I was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Army Artillery. 

There is a brutal war in Ukraine and we are potentially on the brink of World War Three.

I can't escape the feeling that we will never escape the brutality of armed conflict and even the "civil war" we are now engaged in as we witness the battle for control of our country.

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I was raised to be an All-American boy, Sunday school attendee, college bound Eagle Scout.

I was drafted into the Army, commissioned as an artillery Lieutenant and sent to Vietnam as a forward observer with the 1/14th infantry.

I returned from the war motivated to raise consciousness about the perils and evils of war. Armed with a camera and a printing press I have struggled for peace and justice in the world as an artist and anti-war activist.

I am a certified disabled combat veteran who is now a backward observer.

In spite of growing cynicism, I have a calling to declare a point of view,

a mandate to cry out that (in my opinion), the sky is falling, and

a gnawing need to expose a system that turns innocent children into monsters.

Give a boy some lead, he melts it and molds it into soldiers. 

Give the generals a boy and they mold him into a warrior.

War is not a game, playing war has consequences.

Photographers and forward observers bring light when and where it is needed. I brought light and destruction in battle. I attempt to use light to bring insight with my camera. I have merged myself into the toys that once brought excitement and joy but now bring pain and sorrow.