Tom's Mad Blog
October 22nd, 2009 | Posted in General
Our NCS Cartoonists USO tour is almost a wrap. Today we depart on the long trip home, leaving the combat zone after several days of hopping about drawing the troops with the USO. Yesterday we had three separate stops about a large base complex and the response was really overwhelming. Two of the meet and greets were with the whole group and then we again split up into two groups for the last signing. The soldiers and personnel we have visited really seem to be glad we came and¬¨‚Ćalmost everyone who came up to us after waiting in a long line started out by thanking… READ MORE
October 21st, 2009 | Posted in Sketch O'The Week
I’d definitely be worried if this guy was defending our freedom. Just a quick sketch I did while we were waiting for our transport out of Kuwait and into the combat zone on Monday night. Some of the guys brought scanners and I was able to get a quick scan of it for the blog. READ MORE
October 21st, 2009 | Posted in News
My personal photos are still being reviewed but here are some USO approved images from our time in Landstuhl: More to be found here. All photos are USO Photos by Jackie Zettles READ MORE
October 20th, 2009 | Posted in General
While I’m somewhat incommunicado on the Persian Gulf USO tour here is another segment of the infamous 1993 live caricature demo video. This time the subject is Jaleel White, who is best known (okay… only known) for his nerdy character Steve Urkel from the TV Show “Family Matters”. READ MORE
October 20th, 2009 | Posted in News
It’s early morning in the Persian Gulf and¬¨‚Ćour group of¬¨‚ĆNational Cartoonists Society cartoonists are preparing to board Blackhawk helicopters to go to various operation bases “down range” to draw for active troops. Last night we flew in on a C-17 transport plane… that was quite a story I will share when I write this all up after returning to the States. Again, we are not allowed to say where we specifically are due to US military security restrictions. Once we have left the area we are in safely, we can say where and when we were and share those stories. Hopefully I can post some… READ MORE
October 19th, 2009 | Posted in News
Our group of ten National Cartoonists Society cartoonists spent Sunday visiting multiple U.S. bases in Kuwait, drawing for and visiting with the troops. According to USO and military blogging and twittering guidelines, I cannot be specific about where we are currently at or where we are going to, but I can name places we have visited and left from safely. I also cannot post any photos until they are approved by the USO for release. I am hoping to have some pictures I submitted for approval available to share before our trip is complete, but once we have returned I will be blogging extensively about… READ MORE
October 18th, 2009 | Posted in News
Here’s a link to a news story in the Stars and Stripes about our visit to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany prior to our shipping out to do more of the same in the Persian Gulf. There are a number of pictures. The polish soldier in the pictures really did laugh so hard we thought he was going to keel over after I showed him my caricature of him. I haven’t killed a subject yet… although a few have thrown up and one peed their pants once. Fortunately the guy didn’t die but he might need fresh stitches. READ MORE
October 18th, 2009 | Posted in General
I was using “the facilities” in the Frankfurt airport while waiting to board our plane for the Persian Gulf when I was once again surprised by the “little differences” between Europe and the U.S. Germany has some of the greatest engineering on planet earth, but when it comes to making their toilet seats into robotic, self cleaning, spinning disks of doom they might have gone too far. I was in the middle of relieving myself when the commode I was using suddenly came to life and started doing the hokey pokey as shown: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_4HEtD6eBk[/youtube] I was unnerved but didn’t panic and hose down the area.… READ MORE
