NEW YORK — An Associated Press picture of a soldier in his pink boxers has become an iconic image of the war in Afghanistan, but at the moment it was taken, wardrobe was the last thing on the minds of the fighter and photographer.
“Like them, I was thinking about the situation — where was it safe and where was it safe to work?” said David Guttenfelder, photographer for The AP who was embedded with a U.S. Army unit in the Korengal Valley.
When a firefight broke out May 11, U.S. Army Spec. Zachary Boyd leapt from his sleeping quarters and grabbed his helmet, vest and rifle — but not his pants — and took his station behind sandbags.
Guttenfelder’s photo made front pages the next day, including The New York Times and Boyd’s hometown Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, Texas. It elicited an immediate smile but also symbolized the dedication of those fighting in Afghanistan. It put a human face, or backside, on what can seem an anonymous conflict.
Initially, the soldiers were worried the photo would make them look bad, Guttenfelder said. But Firebase Restrepo, on a steep mountainside where soldiers are on constant lookout for Taliban fighters, isn’t a place for formality: Uniforms have holes in them, and some men wear flea collars because of bugs in their beds, he said.
Boyd called his parents at 12:30 a.m. Fort Worth time to warn them about the photo. He was worried about losing his job, said his mother, Sheree Boyd.
Her husband, Tommy, got on the computer to find the photo and roared with laughter, she said. The boxers were emblazoned with “I Love NY.”
Boyd doesn’t have to worry about his job. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday he wanted to meet Boyd and shake his hand the next time he’s in Afghanistan.
He lauded Boyd for having “a special kind of courage.”
Sheree Boyd said she and her husband had heard from many people expressing admiration for their son. She’s eating that up, as any mom would, but said she appreciates how the photo reminds Americans that it’s the “kid next door” fighting the war.
She said she hopes to see her son back home by the Fourth of July. Would he be wearing pink boxers in any Independence Day parades?
“Don’t challenge him,” she said, laughing. “He just may do it.”
