I am aware of exactly one picture of myself in any kind of gear. I was sitting beside a buddy on a Huey, we were wearing BDU's, kevlar and battle rattle, with rifles. I am not sure who took the picture, and it was my buddy who posted it, otherwise there would be no pictorial proof that I had ever so much as stood near an M16 rifle. I have a couple of other pictures, one a group photo from Basic Training, another a DA photo, neither of which have ever been posted online.



On Facebook I am friends with a few guys I served with, none of whom are still in, and am a member of a group dedicated to one the Signal Bn's I served in.



That is the only information regarding my military service that I have ever put online (other than a few posts on this site). While I was in the Army I didn't take photos, I didn't pose for photos, and wasn't interested in the slightest in that sort of thing. I wasn't worried about looking like a poser, I think for me it was a bit of an old habit of my fathers that rubbed off on me. Back in the seventies and eighties being in the military wasn't the most socially acceptable profession, and in many places the term "GI" was a derogatory. My father was a career soldier, and spent most of his service during those periods. He was never in any way ashamed of his service, he was quite proud of it, but he saw no point in advertising his status out of uniform. He was also old school and more than a little high speed low drag, he completed both the 18E school and Warrant Officer Flight Training in three years (yes, nearly 18 months for the first, and nearly 12 for the second), he had learned from a buddy not to carry anything on him that could be used against him if captured, no family photos, no letters from home, no keepsakes. The only ID information he carried were his dog tags, ID card and name tapes and unit patches on his uniform. He had a friend who spent a year as a POW in Vietnam, he had pictures of his wife and daughter, as well as letters from home when he was captured, that information was used against him in very nasty ways.



As a member of the military in a deployable unit your friend may not be trying to hide sensitive military information, but rather trying to avoid setting himself up for the worst and most effective form of torture in a worst case scenario. In Vietnam all the enemy had to work with was what they captured with you, they had no other way to learn anything about you and your background, today the bad guys have access to the internet, and if you aren't careful your entire life history would be readily available to them.