About this project

Approximately 40 members of the Texas Patriot Guard Riders line the tarmac of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in February, holding American flags, as a small Kalitta Charters plane delivers Spc. Bobby Pagan’s remains to his family.  As the belly of the plane opens to show Pagan’s flag-draped casket, only his mother’s cries break through the loud rustle of the flags in the wind.

This is the second PGR mission I attended, but vastly different than the first mission for another soldier killed in action, Capt. Pena. For Pena, from a San Marcos, Texas, the community came out in force, lining the streets and overpasses for the entire 45-mile route from the San Antonio airport to the funeral home in downtown San Marcos. Local businesses lowered their flags to half mast, while strangers waved flags and stood in support as the hearse carrying his remains passed in front of the county courthouse. Pagan's recovery mission was a different story.

The only flags that flew for Pagan were those of the Patriot Guard. After leaving the Austin National Guard Aviation Support Facility with a police and PGR escort en route the Mission funeral home, community support was noticeably absent. Flags did not fly and tears did not fall. The total lack of community awareness demonstrates the difference between a small and large city like Austin.

Over the past seven years of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, Texas remains at the forefront of casualties from both Iraq and Afghanistan.  According to The Washington Post’s Faces of the Fallen, as of August 20, 2010, Texas claims 501 of the 5,617 fatalities from the war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, second to only Calif.

The Patriot Guard Riders, a group of motorcycle riders who escort military funerals, formed in 2005 in response to the Westboro Baptist Church planned protest during the Funeral of Sgt. John Doles in Chelsea, Ok. Recently, as the number of protesters dwindle, so does community support for families -- especially in large cities like Austin. This project explores the PGR members, while also looking at the growing apathy over both wars: one which is on the increase, one with a new mission, but neither with a definitive end.

As loved ones continue to reclaim the remains of a soldiers from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the PGR serves as a reminder to the families that their loss is not just a blurb on the nightly news. This project aims to provide a portraits of communities in loss, through the eyes of the PGR.

Funding from Kickstarter will allow me to continue photographing Patriot Guard Missions, which are last minute in nature, over the following year from Sept. 1 2010, to Sept. 1, 2011. My goal is to produce a photography book that includes photographs from the funerals, interviews from families and portraits of PGR members.