The Spirit of ATEC...

Apparently it is something like a tradition in my unit that a photo competition is held whenever we train overseas. And this time round it was no difference... The top 3 prizes worth a total of NT$2500 was kindly sponsored by my Chief. The theme for the competition was "Spirit of ATEC". A few of us got down to 'business' trying to capture the said spirit. I had a friendly rivalry with my Chief (who was also in the competition!) on who would win the competition. Apparently, he won it last year. Obviously, the judges won't be him lah! It was my Commander and the Dy Chief... Anyway, from what I gathered, the winning entry last year showed ATECians (people from ATEC lah!) laughing. Apparently, the judges last year decided that it aptly captured the spirit of ATEC. Hmmm...I was tempted to go along the same path but after some reflection decided to do something different. In the end, I had five entries which I considered to be quite ok. The following are 3 of the five. For security reasons (ahem...) I can't show the other two but I'll explain them shortly.

Circle of Trust

From diverse backgrounds we come together for a common goal,

with rich experiences we bear,

we share a common thread in the tapestry that is ATEC.

Always there with a helping hand...
Through the tough times we go through
We help each other discover our limits
Through the tough paces we put units through
We help them discover their boundaries...

He ain't heavy, he's my brother
Just like a flock of birds,
We tap on each other to lift ourselves up.

The 4th picture one showed 3 ATECians having a good laugh and the expressions on their faces showed pure joy. These 4 pictures shared a common thread in that they showed ATECians.

The 5th and final picture was different. It showed the unit that went through ATEC. The scene I captured showed 3 soldiers in action - one 'injured' officer was lying down, his right leg suffering 'severe bleeding' from the enemy 'artillery fire' that rained down just minutes before, his faithful signaller, lightly injured but still manning the radio and calling for help lying down just beside him and a third solider, an anti-tank gunner lugging a MATADOR running past them towards the direction of the 'enemy'. I captured the running soldier while panning my camera so that I got him clearly while the background was blurred. This was done to show the urgency of the situation. I entitled the picture “Fallen - A fallen comrade, a radioman calling for help, an anti-tank gunner rushing forward to take out the enemy – ATEC pushes units to their limits and lets them discover how tough they are...”. This was the photo I submitted for the competition.

The results were announced after we conducted our own debrief, 1 day before going for R&R. The Chairman showed all the photos that did not win and then came to the top three...Mine wasn’t one of those that was shown earlier so I knew I had a chance. I forgot what the third place photo was but the second one was similar to my “He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother’ photo! I knew then that I had clinched first prize! The judges liked the senses of urgency and mission that my entry had depicted. So there, my first ever win in a photo competition, albeit a small one...