As you walk through Company C, 82nd Brigade Support Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, you will see twenty-seven year old Sgt. Felicitas Moralesroque, combat medic with Co. C, 82nd BSB, creating a forty foot wide by fourteen foot tall, mixed-media mural located inside Co. C, 82nd BSB's aid station.
She has been painting this mural throughout the past four weeks. In high school and college, Moralesroque participated in several art shows.
"I've been painting murals since I was three years old," said Moralsroque as she laid new strokes onto the wall.
Her work, along with some help from her father, paid for her Bachelors Degree in International Relations from St. Leo University, Fla.
When her Family felt the effects of the country's economic crash, Moralesroque joined the Army and took over her parent's bills.
During Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, S.C., she designed her platoon T-shirts. In Advanced Individual Training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, Moralesroque had the opportunity to design a variety of work from T-shirts to tattoos and murals for her fellow Soldiers and platoon sergeants.
"When I arrived here in 2010, I was always drawing," said Moralesroque. "People around me noticed and asked for more work."
1st Sgt. Alfred Washington and Capt. Jesse Tafoya, both from Co. C, later discovered her creative talents and asked her to sketch a mural for their company's wall. Washington challenged her to paint the entire hallway.
Moralesroque accepted and expects to complete it within the next two weeks. Capt. Antonio Chang, 82nd BSB's physician assistant, said that the mural acts as a tribute to the medics and for fallen paratrooper, Spc. Matthew J. Sandrie, a Co. C combat medic who made the ultimate sacrifice on March 20, 2004 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. "He was a great person. Our aid station is named after him," said Chang.
The mural's subject matter contains every aspect of her training here in the 82nd Abn. Div. This includes: the aid station, medical evac platoon and drop zone coverage, air landing, and off loading.
"This piece acts as a visual representation of what combat medics are all about," said Moralesroque.
"This painting takes place on Sicily Drop Zone where we regularly assemble," she said. "The work contains landmarks everyone in Charlie Med is familiar with."
The left half of the mural focuses on nighttime training, whereas on the right, daytime training.
In the center of the mural is the Caduceus, the medical branch symbol. The Caduceus contains wings and two serpents that are wrapped around a flagstaff. "I painted the wings to look angelic," said Moralesroque. "I see medics to be the guardian angels for Soldiers. The serpents are fierce-looking and deadly, because we are also trained Soldiers."
Chang said that he is very impressed with Moralesroque's mural. "It's good for the paratroopers," said Chang. "This project is an excellent use of her talents, and a large contribution to her unit."
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