Behind the Scenes: Man in the Pink Boxers
By David W. Dunlap
Army
Spc. Zachary Boyd of Fort Worth battles the Taliban on Monday in
Afghanistan as he wears his "I love NY" boxer shorts. Boyd rushed from
his sleeping quarters to join his fellow platoon members.Updated | 2:50 p.m., Friday, May 22. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has reassured Specialist Zachary Boyd, stationed in Afghanistan, that his military career is in no danger for having appeared on the front page of The New York Times dressed for combat in pink boxers and flip-flops. Quite the contrary.
Speaking in New York on Thursday at a ceremony aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, Mr. Gates said:
Sometimes the public recognition isn’t always expected — or necessarily welcomed. Specialist Zachary Boyd recently was enjoying a well-deserved sleep when his post in eastern Afghanistan came under enemy attack. He immediately grabbed his rifle and rushed into a defensive position clad in his helmet, body armor, and pink boxer shorts that said “I Love New York.”
Unfortunately — or fortunately, depending on your perspective — an A.P. photographer was there for a candid shot, a photo which ran shortly thereafter on the front page of The New York Times. Boyd later told his parents that “I may not have a job anymore after the president has seen me out of uniform.”
Well, let me tell you, the next time I visit Afghanistan I want to meet Specialist Boyd and shake his hand. Any soldier who goes into battle against the Taliban in pink boxers and flip-flops has a special kind of courage. And I can only wonder about the impact on the Taliban. Just imagine seeing that — a guy in pink boxers and flip-flops has you in his crosshairs — what an incredible innovation in psychological warfare. I can assure you that Specialist Boyd’s job is very safe indeed.
Original Post | 1:33 p.m., Thursday, May 21. Of course, “Obama” is among the top search terms on The Times’s Web site. And given the recent elections, it is no surprise that “India,” too, ranks high on the list. Sadly, “cancer” is also among the most frequently searched phrases. But on Tuesday, something strange popped up in the No. 10 position: “pink boxers.”
Marc Frons, the chief technology officer at The Times, made the discovery as he perused the list that afternoon. “I saw ‘pink boxers’ and said, what on earth?” he recalled.
A visit to Google disclosed a Web site called pinkboxers and some others that would make anyone — particularly at work — want to clear out the browser. But the readers’ quest quickly became evident. They were looking for a photograph from Afghanistan by David Guttenfelder of The Associated Press that The Times ran at the top of page 1 on May 12.
It showed Specialist Zachary Boyd of Fort Worth, Tex., fighting the Taliban alongside Specialist Cecil Montgomery and Specialist Jordan Custer. It’s just that Specialist Boyd, who had rushed from his sleeping quarters, was wearing nothing more under his armor than a red T-shirt and pink boxer shorts emblazoned “I Love NY.” The image caused a nationwide sensation.
Mr. Guttenfelder, 40, is based in Tokyo and has worked for The Associated Press since 1994. He was among the A.P. photographers covering the 2008 earthquake in China who were finalists this year for the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news photography. At first, he didn’t know just how much comment his “pink boxers” shot had elicited stateside.
In an e-mail message to Michele McNally, an assistant manager editor of The Times, Mr. Guttenfelder said it is “very hard to gauge the impact of the photos while I’m out here in the bush.”
Ms. McNally was struck by the picture. “It had an impact on me immediately,” she said. “Your first reaction is: ‘What? What’s going on?’ Because you are smiling — and then you realize its meaning. War never stops, look how intense it could get. You understand then that he is fighting out of uniform, in underwear which reads “I Love NY,” in the midst of really rough terrain in a remote region so very far from home. And New York.
“And yet again, it calls up what mom said, ‘Always wear clean underwear, you never know.’”
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