LOGISTICAL SUPPORT AREA ANACONDA, Balad, Iraq -- Some people may
look at the concrete blast walls around Logistics Support Area Anaconda and see no more
than slabs of concrete. But for one officer with V Corps' 12th Combat Aviation Brigade
those walls were a huge canvas; a place to create.
When the brigade's
3rd Battalion, 158th
Aviation decided to
put its personalized
stamp on the base
by adding a mural
to those walls, it
was that officer to
whom they
immediately turned
-- 1st Lt. William
Conners, a D
Company 3-158th
platoon leader and
UH-60 Black Hawk
helicopter pilot.
With a degree in art
from Harvard,
Conners isn't
exactly a weekend
dabbler or subway spray-painter. He says some people are a little surprised about his
decision to join the military after graduating from such a prestigious school.
STAFF SGT DERRICK MIMS
A pair of 12th Combat Aviation Brigade helicopters comes to life
in one of the murals 1st Lt. William Conners, a UH-60 Black
Hawk pilot with the brigade's 3rd Battalion, 158th Aviation, is
painting on concrete blast walls on Logistics Support Area
Anaconda in Balad, Iraq.
"No matter where I go I get hassled a little," said Conners. "They'll pretend they have a
Boston accent and say 'you went to Haahvaahd, you must be wicked smaaht.'"
"I've always loved to draw ever since I can remember, and Harvard was just one of the
many schools I applied to," the Wolcott, N.Y., native said.
"My parents didn't have a lot of money, but I was able to attend Harvard because their
scholarships are based on financial need as much as merit or athletics," said Conners. "I
also had to work a summer job to pay the remainder of the tuition not covered by the
scholarship."
When he graduated, he says, his next move wasn't really a difficult decision.
Conners was enrolled in Harvard's Reserve Officer Training Corps program his
sophomore year of college, and he liked it so much he decided to sign an Army contract
during his junior year.
"I always wanted to join the Army,
because I feel that everyone should
volunteer to protect and serve their
country," he said. "Plus, my father
was drafted during Vietnam, and he
always had plenty of great stories to
tell."
The lieutenant says art actually
helped him choose his Army career
path.
"Art transfers to aviation when it
comes to spatial perception," said
Conners. "The two are very much
alike when it comes to judging
distance and depth perception."
Still, Conners said he doesn't plan to
make the Army a career. His goal is
to get a degree in education and
teach art, but in the meantime he has
had opportunities to flex his talent
while in uniform.
"I didn't exactly volunteer to paint
the mural, but I'm happy to do it,"
said Conners. "It also gives me a
chance to do something different,
and that's OK, because it's something I enjoy doing."
Conners is also used to his art being viewed by thousands of people. He has won several
Scholastic Art competitions and had some of his drawings published in Scholastic Arts
Magazine, and he painted a similar mural for his battalion during the unit's stayover at
Camp Buehring, Kuwait en route to Iraq.
The lieutenant's work here, ablaze with depictions of his brigade's combat-green
helicopters beating their way through the southwest Asia sky, have provided a small but
colorful legacy for the battalion.
"I'm very impressed with his first-class work," said 3-158th Command Sgt. Maj. Chad
Cuomo. "His artwork has inspired the Soldiers of 'Task Force Storm' to be nothing but
the best at what they do."
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