Current Events > A US Photographer captured the moment of her own death in AFGHANISTAN

(+) Yeah! (+)

Photo taken by Clayton:

Photo taken by Afghan soldier she was training in photojournalism:

Clayton herself:

Specialist Hilda Clayton, 22, and four Afghan National Army soldiers died when a mortar shell blew up during a training exercise on 2 July 2013.
The US Army also released a photo by an Afghan whom Spc Clayton was training in photojournalism. He was among the dead.
The accident happened in the eastern province of Laghman.
Military Review magazine published the images.
"Clayton's death symbolises how female soldiers are increasingly exposed to hazardous situations in training and in combat on par with their male counterparts," the Army wrote in the edition.
The photos were published with the permission of the Clayton family.

The Army said that "not only did Clayton help document activities aimed at shaping and strengthening the [US-Afghan] partnership but she also shared in the risk by participating in the effort."
The visual information specialist, who was from the US state of Georgia, has had a photography award named in her honour by the Department of Defense.
Military photographers must pass a five-day test of their physical and technical skills to qualify for the Spc Hilda Clayton Best Combat Camera award.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39798988
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damn
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wow!
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Holy shit. I'm surprised with the proximity to the explosion that the camera was in good enough shape to recover the pictures.
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That's the tragic poetics of War.

There is nothing good about War, but what comes after can sometimes redeem it.
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Pogo_Marimo posted...

That's the tragic poetics of War.

There is nothing good about War, but what comes after can sometimes redeem it.

It's hard to make too much meaning out of this, for me anyway. It wasn't even "War" that killed her. It was a training exercise.
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bump
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why were they training with a live mortar shell
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TheGoldenEel posted...

why were they training with a live mortar shell

Live munition training is very common is the military.
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"Clayton's death symbolises how female soldiers are increasingly exposed to hazardous situations in training and in combat on par with their male counterparts," the Army wrote in the edition.

Equality!

ThePrinceFish posted...

Holy shit. I'm surprised with the proximity to the explosion that the camera was in good enough shape to recover the pictures.

The important bits of modern memory cards are pretty well protected, with the PCB, epoxy, plastic casing, metal slot, and the rest of the camera between the flashram and whatever disaster just got photographed.

TheGoldenEel posted...

why were they training with a live mortar shell

How do you prepare for combat if you only ever use duds?
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bump
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I'm sure the camera is extra heavy duty as well
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LightHawKnight posted...

TheGoldenEel posted...

why were they training with a live mortar shell

How do you prepare for combat if you only ever use duds?

Yup, sucks when they train in urban areas with live ammo, main case of friendly fire death in the military, some people just suck at dodging bullets.

LightHawKnight posted...

TheGoldenEel posted...

why were they training with a live mortar shell

How do you prepare for combat if you only ever use duds?

By not dying from a live mortar in a training exercise. There are better options than that bullshit, and now look what happened.
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I'm scared.
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Very sad. I know that a bunch of scientists signed some pledge against using robots for warfare, but this kind of thing seems way too dangerous for humans. I remember hearing a similar story where several marines were killed during a similar training accident in the US.
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