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Flying Tiger

This is USMC Sgt. Widman. He is a CH-53E crew chief with HMH-361 Flying Tigers out of Miramar California. These crew chiefs are responsible for ensuring all personnel and cargo that is taken in these aircraft are secured tightly to the floor, doing weapons checks, providing rear/side visibility to the pilots, and much more. They are very good at what they do and I have a new found respect for this job, it is a lot of work and they do it fast and efficiently. Taken on my trip with the squadron to provide supplies to the Marines stationed at some of the FOBs in southern Afghanistan.

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phoenix persian 1 month ago

fine

declan mccormack 4 months ago

Typical yank looking to go on the defencive at the drop of a hat, does he kill children is not an accusation it's an inquiry.Maybe he urinates on the dead bodies or is that just someone else's actions also.Well Afghanistan as you can imagine is a very dangerous place to go as an amerikan, well how terrible that must be all because of someone else's actions. Decent folk alright.

Cory Smith Seems you have humanity figured out. Bravo.

declan mccormack 4 months ago

Does he kill children also?

Cory Smith Declan, with respect to everyone's opinion, it's pretty safe to assume that most decent people do not kill children. There are have been some who have. But don't go on the internet looking to accuse someone you don't even know because of someone's actions.

John Hallett 1 year ago

how did you get permission to fly with them?

Cory Smith Hi John,
I made a lot of connections with the people in the squadron. The pilots hooked me up for this particular one.

John Hallett Thanks for getting back to me Cory. What was the journey to Afghanistan like? Where did you visit in country? Sorry for the questions, however I am in process developing a plan for a trip and am trying to gathering information.

Cory Smith Hey John, I thought I replied back to this. Sorry for the delay. Well Afghanistan as you can imagine is a very dangerous place to go as an American when not with NATO forces. I'm also 99% sure you cant get into the country via air unless you go through one of the military bases. It's a lot prettier than a lot of people think it is. Every time I flew I was just amazed by the landscapes alone. You'd have to be part of an official journalism team, contractor, or the military to get permission to get into the country.

Hope this helps.
- Cory

ahmad mubarak 2 years ago

like it

Pierre Pageau 2 years ago

félicitations .

Vic Chapman 2 years ago

Perfectly done Cory.

Bulent Akbas 2 years ago

Excellent Cory

evh-fotografie 2 years ago

Very nice shot and they do good work over there. i asume you have made this picture with a fish eye?
Gr Eric

Cory Smith Eric,
Thanks a lot, yes I did, sigma makes great fisheye lenses.

Jose Luis Cunha 2 years ago

AMAZING SHOOT!!!

Carl Bostek 2 years ago

I posted a link to your site on my FB page. Thanks for the nice work.

Cory Smith Thanks Carl!

Ali Morshedlou 2 years ago

Great shot,
Well done...

Clyde Beamer 2 years ago

Skillfully done and perfectly placed here in this Category, congrats on a very fine photograph!

Stefan Eduard 2 years ago

Wonderful picture ! Congratulations.

ifrim 2 years ago

uuuu...guns bad for humans!

Liloni Luca 2 years ago

Wow,really good scene!

Novecento 2 years ago

I love this kind of photos!!!!

Eitan Vaxman 2 years ago

Cool, Excellent shot.

Faddoush 2 years ago

Wonderful documentary!!

Robert 2 years ago

This is very interesting. A really great portrait of this soldier!

Robert

Domi Rouchet 2 years ago

Very very impressive shoot!!!

erolbas 2 years ago

no to war
is always no.
very nice peace.
To love so beautiful
the world is beautiful.
peace at home
world peace
No human blood shed

Greetings from turkey

Sven Fennema 2 years ago

Fantastic shot, very impressive and fisheye is working perfect here!

Aziz Abbasi 2 years ago

Excellent, ..

Wings 2 years ago

I like the use of the fisheye lens, but I feel the selectors that vote should ask themselves if this is a portrait of a man, or a everyday type image or a conceptual view point living under a given condition. There is nothing wrong with this image but in the the subjective text itself. If you post it then it's fresh mean for international consumption. While this image only has 3 unique views and is very real. I feel that just maybe the gunner should have been testing his gun for this shot to make any punch.

A 50 caliber machine gun does not discriminate. But lets all remember that guns do not kill, but the men behind them do , and that alone can be the fatal reality of a prolong hatred when a child in route from a market is blown away from above by an x surfer dude that wold rather have a cold beer in hand listening to a ball game while watching youth in thong bikinis play volleyball at Manhattan the beach.

Oh did we look into the fact that he's there not because he loves his job, but because there's no work and this is the only solution he has by riding the tail end with a 50 caliber machine gun to feed his family and put his children through college perhaps. You now to ensure a future for his children so they may inherit the family business or join a law firm to regulate laws at home.

I guess this is more my statement to people that vote images in. If its a documentary, street or what ever. please stop looking for cool images but put some real worth into the images which needs to be brought to light by the photographer. Without it its just another ambiguous clear fair weather picture.

Just maybe the photographer needs to know more about the person and why the do it that state the job. So outside of that good job statement Cory you at lest allowed me to make what I think is a valid comment on how the picture people should select images.

Focal Plane You've said everything I always wanted to say about my issues with the selection process. Taken apart coldly and without the text, this photo is just a photo: good material, but not 1x standard.

Cory Smith Thanks so much for your detailed comment. All of my photos that were taken over there can be and have been misconstrued into something they are not. I understand how this happens so easily after my first few images were posted online from Iraq. This is the cover image of my book "Actuality" that is going to be published in July. And I completely agree with you, the stories of the people in the photos are what make the images come to life.

I'll leave everyone to their own opinion, but the way I experienced the things I did will be told, as well as the people in my photos have given me their stories to print.

Again, thanks for the comment, I truly do appreciate the feedback.
- Cory Smith