Didn't know this . . .

I am not making a "point" with this blog. Rather, was researching humanitarian principles in the case study of Afghanistan for a student presentation on Tuesday. We needed background photos for our powerpoint. Of the many striking photos in the Boston Globe gallery I was haunted by the following picture. I asked my friend if this additional face mask is illegal, and he wasn't sure. I do want to be abundantly clear that there are more positive pictures- and we will be using those :)



Photos taken from 
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/afghanistan_january_2010.html
At the end of a convoy in which he received and returned fire with his 50 calibre machine gun, U.S. Marine turret gunner Cpl. Ian Bole, of Port Royal, South Carolina, wearing a face mask with a skull design, breathes steam on a cold day inside an armored vehicle in the Pech Valley, Kunar province, northeastern Afghanistan on Thursday Jan. 28, 2010.

U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Alonzo, of the 177th Field Artillery Regiment, 172nd Brigade, allows an Iraqi police officer to look at his M-4 carbine assault rifle at a post in Hayy, Iraq. Light-enhancing combat rifle sights made by Trijicon for U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan carry an ID number on them like the one pictured above (top center): "ACOG4X32JN8:12" - which reads as "Advanced Combat Optical Gunsight, 4x32, John 8:12", referring to a Bible verse with the last six characters. That verse is "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, 'I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life'". After concerns were raised about about whether the inscriptions break a government rule that bars proselytizing by American troops, Trijicon has now announced that it will no longer imprint the verses on the sides of scopes intended for the U.S. military. (AP Photo/Staff Sgt. Rasheen A. Douglas, Defense Department) #