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Continuing a theme from yesterday...

By The Armorer on June 30, 2009 | | Comments (17)
Yesterday I posted the picture of the "Gypsy Kind" Stryker vehicle - not because I have an objection to the cluttered look, but because I used to build models and that picture is of a vehicle that *screams* to be built - and the guy or gal who can do it right has an IPMS Nationals winner on their hands.  I just like the tools of the trade.

The part of the picture I showed you yesterday was cropped and focused.  So is today's - and it's from the same photo.  This time it's of the Iraqi security force HMMWV that was part of the same patrol.

The HMMWVs are the "Gun Trucks" - improvised fighting vehicles - of this war, and this one is no exception.  My question for you Iraq vets is... is that thing really as scrunched on the drivers side as it appears?  It could just be distortion induced by the photographer, but I'm curious...

U.S. Army Spc. Nicolas Romah provides security during a joint patrol with Iraqi security forces north of Tarmiyah, Iraq, June 20, 2009. Romah is assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 111th Infantry Regiment (Mechanized), 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania Army National Guard and is attached to Multi-National Division – Baghdad. (DoD photo by Sgt. Jacob H. Smith, U.S. Army/Released)

Same caption - but the existence of Google compels me!  06/20/2009 - U.S. Army Spc. Nicolas Romah provides security during a joint patrol with Iraqi security forces north of Tarmiyah, Iraq, June 20, 2009. Romah is assigned to Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 111th Infantry Regiment (Mechanized), 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania Army National Guard and is attached to Multi-National Division – Baghdad. (DoD photo by Sgt. Jacob H. Smith, U.S. Army/Released)   A larger version of this pic is available by clicking here - at least it will be after the first of the month.  By the last three or four days of each month I've exceeded by hosting services bandwidth limit and the pictures get reduced.  Sigh. 

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17 Comments

By Pogue on June 30, 2009 7:18 AM
Wide angle lens - look at the difference in apparent size of the left and right tire and lights.
 
By Oldloadr on June 30, 2009 8:46 AM
John, I'm 6 foot and, at the time I was in Iraq weighed about 240.  From my perspective, every position is scrunched.  Heck, I was scrunched in the 1st gen "field modified" armored HUMVs. 
 
By Chuck Simmins on June 30, 2009 8:58 AM
I think the driver's side is actually caved in a little. The vehicle, if not a Hummer, would be leaning to the passenger side because those wheels are in the ditch. Not only is it not, the driver's roof if leaning the opposite way. Ergo, caved in.

I knew Ergo, a fine fellow. Fell into a vat of whiskey and drowned. We pulled him out four times.
 
By Chris H. on June 30, 2009 9:01 AM
 I know my truck never had that unusual slope. Had plenty of other idiosyncrasies, but never looked "srcunched". I suspect you're correct about the camera introducing distortion.

r/
Chris H.
 
By KCSteve on June 30, 2009 9:20 AM
If the distortion had been caused by something other than the camera the windshield would have been broken.
 
By BillT on June 30, 2009 9:32 AM
Yup. Distortion, enhanced and compounded by the way the asymmetrical turret's turned.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 30, 2009 11:24 AM
Sorry about the Moderation Monster, everybody.  One of the spam-blocking services we subscribe to is suddenly reporting a huge block of IP addresses as spammers. Including this comment, which just went into moderation...  We're trying to sort it out. Pogue - Now I feel stupid. I should have seen that right off. I guess I was distracted by the Gypsy Caravan.
 
By BillT on June 30, 2009 12:05 PM
I should have seen that right off.

You may also have subconsciously assumed that the turn signal on the passenger's/vehicle commander's side had been modified into a TOW missile launcher...

 
By Fishmugger on June 30, 2009 12:08 PM
Take a look at the passenger side windshield and you can easily see the degree of distortion. It's like how I take pictures of the fish I catch. Push the fish closer to the camera and lean back.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 30, 2009 12:11 PM
The Echo still works, though.
 
By John of Argghhh! on June 30, 2009 12:27 PM
So, you call it a 'fish' huh?
 
By Fishmugger on June 30, 2009 12:45 PM
No....for that I would need a telephoto lens.
 
By Chuck Simmins on June 30, 2009 12:48 PM
OK, yep. Wide angle lens. Vehicle is at outside of lense, distortion is less as you approach center.

And, yes, the camera lens does make my butt look fatter.
 
By olga on June 30, 2009 1:10 PM
Thanks G-d it was the wide angle lens, for a moment I thought I had finally succumbed to the consequences of a late night work...
 
By Alan D. Briley, RN on June 30, 2009 8:26 PM
 Drink enough whiskey, and you can make anything look distorted! (That's why I was sober the first time I ever asked any woman on a date. I have never woken up with an ugly woman. Now that I'm happily married, I never will have the opportunity..., OR the desire!) I was a Top Team Sniper graduate, (Fort Bragg, NC, 1985,) and my wife shoots well enough to keep me honest - plus, I love her!
 
By CAVSCT on July 1, 2009 4:22 AM

The Humvee pictured above, it looks to be a Iraqi Army Truck. Who knows what those guys did to it.  But I think your picture is skewed and that fact that it is sitting on a bank has something to do with it as well.

 
By Leslie Applegate on July 1, 2009 7:20 AM
Thank God it is the camera lens, I thought it WAS my butt....