Tom's Mad Blog
October 23rd, 2009 | Posted in News
Back row: Me, Jeff Bacon, Bruce Higdon, Rick Kirkman, Jeff Keane, Garry Trudeau Front: Mike Peters, Stephan Pastis, Chip Bok, Mike Ramirez (Photo courtesy Jeff Bacon) Here’s a picture of all us us “geared up” before flying back to Kuwait from Iraq on a packed C-130 military airplane. Here is a link to a short story about one of the group’s visits at FOB Marez that includes a picture of me drawing one of the crowd. Right after this picture was taken we traveled for 18 hours straight to reach Washington DC. Until I got back to the USA the last shower I’d taken was… READ MORE
October 23rd, 2009 | Posted in General
We just landed in Washington DC from our trip overseas to meet with and draw for U.S. troops in Germany and the Middle East. Now that we have safely left the area, we can reveal where we were. After leaving Germany we traveled to Kuwait City, Kuwait and drew in several FOB camps including Camp Buerhing and Camp Virginia, traveling by road vehicle. On Monday we flew out to Iraq on a military plane and spent the next two days visiting FOB camps like Speicher, Q-West, Marez, Victory, Liberty and Slayer near some well know places like Tikrit, Kirkuk, Mosul and Baghdad. The above video… READ MORE
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
