Oregon Marine Inspires His Team with Art

Lance Cpl. Cory Howland, a squad automatic weapon gunner with 1st squad, 2nd platoon, Kilo Company, adds details to his recent “devil girl” drawing on a company table. Kilo Company and 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines have been conducting counter-insurgency operations in the Al Anbar province here.

Photo by Sgt. Andy Hurt.

Lance Corporal Cory Howland hails from North Bend, Oregon. Currently, he is a Marine - a gunner for Kilo company, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines - and the company artist - at Combat Outpost Lincoln in Iraq.

Throughout high school, he faced a decision between art school and the Marine Corps. He chose the Marines, and the Marines chose him at an 'Artist Recruit' - tasked with creating motivating range flags and other projects. On the side, he draws tattoos for his fellow Marines as a source of income for his art supplies.

Now in Iraq, Howland splits his time between patrols, guard duty and 'COP Beautification' (filling sandbags), and draws is inspirational art whenever he can. He is shown above working on a tabletop drawing that is part of a competition at COP Lincoln.

Howland stays up all night working on his drawing. His joy of drawing and the works he does are inspirational to his fellow Marines and they look forward to seeing his progress.