One of the saddest pictures that I've ever seen.

Nina Berman's photo of Iraq veteran Ty Ziegel and his wife, Renee Kline, won a first prize in the portraits category in the 2007 World Press photo awards announced Friday.

Some comments:
Comments

He looks sad. She looks as though she has no emotion whatsoever. The photograph made me feel a combination of sad and OH-MY-GOD, WHAT HAVE WE DONE!

Posted by: blabby | Feb 11, 2007 at 03:25 AM

it's a horror show.

Posted by: nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez | Feb 11, 2007 at 04:17 AM

I was struck by the sense of futile bravery. Ty gazes at his bride with almost a puppy-like tenderness, as if certain he will lose her eventually. She, for her part, seems resigned to a show of braveness. Her faraway gaze and air of detachment speak volumes.

One cannot look at this and not have grave reservations about the couple's future. The forces they face are huge, and they will not always have the poignancy of this wedding photo, with the groom dressed in the psychologically salving military uniform, to draw strength upon.
http://bagnewsnotes.typepad.com/bagnews/2007/02/your_turn_rites.html

Bush is a SOB.

is going to have us in Iran before we can say boo....and I for one am petrified what I will be leaving my children and my grandchildren.

She's gazed off in that photo, not distraught. It's true love here. In the other photos in that series she shows a real, un-faked, un-put-on smile that can only be genuine.

We live in an age of medical miracles. He may never look normal, but I suspect some level of reconstruction will be possible for him.

I think they have a 50% chance, maybe even better....Hey, that's what most of America faces when they get married these days!

But in all seriousness, I believe this woman really truly loves him and they have many obstacles to face, but I think they have already jumped many of those hurdles and that they have a good chance of making it work.

Here's a nice story about them:

http://www.ksdk.com/news/cover_story/cover_article.aspx?storyid=107719

Check out these photos....

http://archive.reduxpictures.com/Production/PhotoGroupView.aspx?pbid=4&msa=1&pgid=6415897&ipp=24&sort=0&page=0&slid=edc6dece-c7c8-407f-b7a7-6fdd0227e0ba

It shouldn't have to, but it can.

If something horrible happened to my wife, god forbid, would I leave her? Of course not. I'm not married to the way she looks, I'm married to who she is.

my 4th of July reference was from the movie---a movie that shows what happens to vets who come back from war, especially injured vets.

maybe as a vet I saw a lot of Jody situations.

I remember one Vietnam Vet who used to come into my old place of work, who had had his lower jaw shot off. His wife had left him, he was homeless. I think a few years later he died. Terribly, terribly tragic.

I'm with you- I hope for this couple, you're wrong. I wish them the best.

about someone you know nothing about. You are a incredibly judgmental person.

Will not be affordable to the couple.... will not realistically be possible because he has 3RD DEGREE BURNS!!!!!!!

of joining the military when a Bush is in charge.

similar on another thread, actually just suggesting that perhaps joining the military is not the wisest course of action for a young high school graduate at this time.

If recruiters were required to show that photo along with their standard spiel, more young kids might think twice before signing their young lives over to the Bush Crime Family.

You're fuckin' A it's not. I don't know who would flame you for stating the obvious.

his third tour of duty in Iraq. She thought I was denigrating members of the military when I suggested kids and their parents ought to do their homework before signing on the dotted line. This was on a thread in which I posted a picture of the grieving parents of a 20-year-old killed in Iraq from my town. The accompanying article quoted a family friend as saying the young man had joined the military in 2005 because he wanted to "go to Iraq and find those responsible for 9/11." I pointed out that if the boy and his parents had done some research, they'd have known that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, there were no wmd's, and they were being lied to about both. Then, perhaps, he might have thought twice about signing up.

Sometimes on DU, even a statement you might consider nothing more than common sense can get you flamed.

Nevertheless, it seems to me that folks with loved ones in the military would be the first to resent how those good folks' dedicated service is being mis-used. AFAIC, the best way to "support the troops" is to only send them to war when there's a damn good reason.

and would never say or write anything disparaging about their service. I have plenty to say about the fraud in the WH, though, and the fact that he is abusing and misusing the armed forces. And it pisses me off to no end that young kids are signing up under false pretenses (9/11 planners in Iraq, wmd's, spreading "freedom") because no one is setting them straight.

Actually making young men aware of the risks they take when they join up is not a bad thing at all. But the military likes to show things like extreme sports and heavy metal when they recruit people, they never show anything like this. That's like saying a doctor shouldn't be aware that they are going to be looking at blood when they go to medical school. But many people would rather cling to the fantasy image of the military, even here on DU. Imagine how it is throughout the rest of the country.

They seem like a really nice couple who are very devoted to each other. I was especially taken by how upbeat they both seemed.

:hi:

that I can make such an analysis from a picture (but then again, I'm a machinery guy).

One thing, she made a commitment and she's standing by it. Not the cut and run type. Some of us are forced by circumstances to be a better Husband or Wife than we ever expected we would be. The same with the parents of a chonic sick child, or those who care for elderly parents.

Last summer I met a Woman who was offered a position as oboeist with the Koncert Gebouw Orkest in Amsterdam. She had to turn it down. She has an autistic child and cannot cope with the extensive performance and travel requirements. Her husband was gone. That's how things work. Those of us not afflicted with such misfortune, can say "There but for the grace of God, go I", and I do. Every Day. :grouphug:

wedding day, I have great hope for this couple. From an interview:

But through 50 plus surgeries, 19 months of painful rehabilitation and disfiguring scars, Renee stood by him.

"I didn't marry him because he was a good looking guy, I married him because of who he was," said Renee.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/cover_story/cover_article.aspx?storyid=107719

She has stuck with him so far and I believe she knows what she is getting into and will continue to stand by him. I wish them all the best.

I've seen similarly injured Vietnam Vets before and after reconstruction surgery and was amazed at what they can do. I wonder though if he is blind.

When I found out it was not I cried.

http://archive.reduxpictures.com/Common/PhotoDetailPage.aspx?msa=0&pid=6416166&slid=edc6dece-c7c8-407f-b7a7-6fdd0227e0ba&slididx=41&lid=0&rstid=7e65f313-39f8-442d-8540-b83384a72e9b&aid=1

He is one of the faces of Bush's War....I can't imagine the pain he has suffered from the burns....And the unimaginable emotional scars he will suffer beyond the physical scarring...

Good for him for fighting on, I don't think I could.