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CAMP BUERHING, Kuwait — It’s not the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, but for four 40th Expeditionary Signal Brigade soldiers, an ugly, thick concrete barrier is their canvas.
And the quartet will be the first to admit they are nothing like the great Michelangelo, whose masterpiece in Rome still amazes people.
Instead, Capt. Allan Catindig, Sgt. Dustin Driver, Spc. Gary Eaglin and Spc. LeShan Jones want to leave a mark that the 40th was in this dust-driven desert.
Like the Kilroy drawings that appeared during World War II — a bald head appearing over a fence with a huge proboscis and hands making up the cartoon character —today’s GIs’ calling cards are murals touting their organization.
 Sgt. Dustin Driver, Company A, in the foreground and Capt. Allan Catindig, commander of Company C, paint in the main areas of the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion mural on a large concrete barrier at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, on Tuesday. (Suzanne Cronn-Herald/Review) |
Scattered throughout this installation, where American forces train in preparation for going to Iraq and Afghanistan, are artistic reminders of various units’ presence at Camp Buerhing at one time.
The 60-square-feet slab of concrete the 40th is using will be covered by a design the four soldiers collaborated on.
On Tuesday morning, their ideas were penciled on the barrier.
Battalion commander Lt. Col. Linda Jantzen sought soldiers with an artist’s eyes.
“I like to sketch,” said Catindig, who command’s the battalion’s Charlie Company. “My first sergeant nominated me.”
Whether that was a good idea by the first sergeant depends on the finished product and its acceptance by the unit’s soldiers.
The design symbolically incorporates the battalion’s home — Fort Huachuca — and includes mountains and storm clouds, the state with the colors of the Arizona flag and other items, local lore in the form of a gunslinging renegade, and the unit and its connection to the 11th Signal Brigade with the 40th’s crest and the Thunderbird symbol of the brigade.
The brigade completed a mural before moving north into Iraq in October. It’s not far from where the 40th is doing its mural.
The soldiers describe themselves as “comic nerds” — people who like the comic book style of art.
As they drew the design, they talked amongst themselves and sought a better way to place an element.
Jones, of Delta Company, suggested an eagle should be coming out of a storm cloud.
The placement of the cloud and eagle led to the decision to place it near the head of the renegade.
“Make it subtle,” Catindig told him. “It doesn’t need to run over the renegade.”
Jones said he wished he could use the stippling procedure, where dots are used to create an art design.
While in initial Signal Corps training, the specialist used stippling in creating a smaller piece of art showing the POW/MIA flag.
Driver, of Delta Company, has helped with other mural projects, including one at Balad in Iraq.
For Charlie Company’s Eaglin, this is his first mural.
The foursome each had to present a sample of their capabilities.
Today, the mural may be the backdrop of a re-enlistment ceremony for at least 10 soldiers of the 40th, if the details in the design have been completed.
At that time, the captain, sergeant and two specialists will know whether they will get thumbs up from their compatriots in the 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion.
If so, they will have lived up to the battalion’s motto of bene factum — well done.
HERALD/REVIEW senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or by e-mail at bill.hess@svherald.com.
Trayne wrote on Dec 23, 2007 12:00 PM: