The Seattle Times: Nation & World: A smoke break creates icon of the war; now groupies seek out the weary Marine
By Patrick J. McDonnell
Los Angeles Times
FALLUJAH, Iraq — The Marlboro man was angry: He has a war to fight, and he's running out of smokes.
"If you want to write something," he tells an intruding reporter, "tell Marlboro I'm down to four packs, and I'm here in Fallujah till who knows when. Maybe they can send some. And they can bring down the price a bit."
Those are the unfettered sentiments of Marine Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller, 20, a country boy from Kentucky who has been thrust unwittingly and somewhat unwillingly into the role of poster boy for a war on the other side of the world from his home on the farm.
"I just don't understand what all the fuss is about," Miller drawls yesterday as he crouches — Marlboro firmly in place — inside an abandoned building with his platoon mates, preparing to fight insurgents holed up in yet another mosque.
"I was just smokin' a cigarette, and someone takes my picture and it all blows up."
Miller is the young man whose gritty, war-hardened portrait, shot by Luis Sinco, a Los Angeles Times photographer, appeared Wednesday in more than 100 U.S. newspapers, including The Seattle Times. In the full-frame photo, taken after more than 12 hours of nearly nonstop deadly combat, Miller's camouflage war paint is smudged. He sports a bloody nick on his nose. His helmet and chin strap frame a weary expression that seems to convey the timeless fatigue of battle. And there is the cigarette, of course, drooping from the right side of his mouth in a jaunty manner that Humphrey Bogart would have approved of. Wispy smoke drifts off to his left.
The image has quickly moved into the realm of the iconic.
More than 100 newspapers printed it, although it took the New York Post to sum it up in a front-page headline: "Marlboro Men Kick Butt in Fallujah." The fact that Miller's name was not included in the caption material only seemed to enhance its punch.
The Los Angeles Times and other publications have received scores of e-mails wanting to know about this mysterious figure. Many women, in particular, have inquired about how to contact him.
"The photo captures his weariness, yet his eyes hold the spirit of the hunter and the hunted," wrote one e-mailing admirer. "His gaze is warm but deadly. I want to send a letter."
Maybe it's about America striking back at a perceived enemy, or maybe it's just the sense of one young man putting his life on the line halfway across the globe.
Whatever the case, the photo seems to have struck a chord, and top Marine brass are thrilled. Lt. Gen. John. Sattler, commander of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, dropped in on Charlie Company yesterday to laud the Marlboro Men.
"That's a great picture," echoed Col. Craig Tucker, who heads the regimental combat team that includes Miller's battalion. "We're having one blown up and sent over to the unit."
By Patrick J. McDonnell
Los Angeles Times
FALLUJAH, Iraq — The Marlboro man was angry: He has a war to fight, and he's running out of smokes.
"If you want to write something," he tells an intruding reporter, "tell Marlboro I'm down to four packs, and I'm here in Fallujah till who knows when. Maybe they can send some. And they can bring down the price a bit."
Those are the unfettered sentiments of Marine Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller, 20, a country boy from Kentucky who has been thrust unwittingly and somewhat unwillingly into the role of poster boy for a war on the other side of the world from his home on the farm.
"I just don't understand what all the fuss is about," Miller drawls yesterday as he crouches — Marlboro firmly in place — inside an abandoned building with his platoon mates, preparing to fight insurgents holed up in yet another mosque.
"I was just smokin' a cigarette, and someone takes my picture and it all blows up."
Miller is the young man whose gritty, war-hardened portrait, shot by Luis Sinco, a Los Angeles Times photographer, appeared Wednesday in more than 100 U.S. newspapers, including The Seattle Times. In the full-frame photo, taken after more than 12 hours of nearly nonstop deadly combat, Miller's camouflage war paint is smudged. He sports a bloody nick on his nose. His helmet and chin strap frame a weary expression that seems to convey the timeless fatigue of battle. And there is the cigarette, of course, drooping from the right side of his mouth in a jaunty manner that Humphrey Bogart would have approved of. Wispy smoke drifts off to his left.
The image has quickly moved into the realm of the iconic.
More than 100 newspapers printed it, although it took the New York Post to sum it up in a front-page headline: "Marlboro Men Kick Butt in Fallujah." The fact that Miller's name was not included in the caption material only seemed to enhance its punch.
The Los Angeles Times and other publications have received scores of e-mails wanting to know about this mysterious figure. Many women, in particular, have inquired about how to contact him.
"The photo captures his weariness, yet his eyes hold the spirit of the hunter and the hunted," wrote one e-mailing admirer. "His gaze is warm but deadly. I want to send a letter."
Maybe it's about America striking back at a perceived enemy, or maybe it's just the sense of one young man putting his life on the line halfway across the globe.
Whatever the case, the photo seems to have struck a chord, and top Marine brass are thrilled. Lt. Gen. John. Sattler, commander of the I Marine Expeditionary Force, dropped in on Charlie Company yesterday to laud the Marlboro Men.
"That's a great picture," echoed Col. Craig Tucker, who heads the regimental combat team that includes Miller's battalion. "We're having one blown up and sent over to the unit."
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