Vince is an Apache Longbow pilot just back from Iraq. He brought with him a CD of greatest hits (hellfire missile hits, 30mm chain gun hits, etc) that he wanted to show to his friends at the GHQ booth, but alas, they didn't have a laptop or computer withhim. But John Fernandes knew who did and brought him by the booth. I agreed to play it immediately.

A group clusters around the MagWeb.com booth on Sunday morning to watch images and videos from Iraq. Vince is on the right (white shirt, hands in pockets) talking to Tibor Vari (yellow shirt). MagWeb's other VP Bill Abernathy (other yellow shirt) watches intently.

It was set to music, though, sadly, I didn't have any speakers, but the collection of photos from embedded reporters/photographers plus some additional ones from soldiers proved captivating even without the soundtrack. FLIR footage was eerie, there's even a shot of flak exploding as the helicopter formation flew by, and of course, lots of targeted and destroyed Iraqi vehicles and guns. There were several different presentations, each about 5 minutes long.

In the middle of this, a 10-year old walks up and asks what's going on, sees the explosions on screen, and asks, "What game is this?" My wife, Susan, gently tells the kid that this is no game, but real footage of the war that Vince brought--that the tank just blown apart on screen was an Iraqi tank that would fire on our troops, and that the gun emplacement was firing on our troops, and so on. That sobered the kid up a bit, and to his credit, he stayed and watched the rest of the slideshow/video show for the next few minutes. Vince re-ran it again Sunday morning to acclaim.

At the end, I thanked him for allowing us to watch the CD, and then I thanked him "for going over there." It's important that soldiers who put their life on the line halfway around the world know that.

More Historicon 2003

Introduction
Dealer Area
The Vince Show: Apache Longbow Pilot Back from Iraq
Flea Market
Hanging Around and A Sample of Conversations
Renaissance Fair and Flair
Painting Competition (monstrously slow: 736K)
Conclusion

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