In 2004, the administration of President George W. Bush came under harsh criticism for failing to equip U.S. forces with appropriate armored vehicles and body armor. For a time, military personnel were forced to reinforce their vehicles using scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass from landfills. Strahle’s regiment did have armed armored amphibious assault vehicles, but the military had yet to adapt to insurgents’ use of IEDs. The armor only protected its sides.   

   “The biggest threat at the time were the roadside bombs,” Strahle says. “Basically we needed to be protected from underneath and we had none.”

   AAVs have since been replaced by Mwraps, which travel higher off the ground and have an armored undercarriage. IEDs blow out its tires, but protect occupants.

   “We’ve only lost a very small handful of men since we’ve been starting to use these new vehicles in 2009 and 2010,” he says. “That’s just a far cry from where we were, where, if we hit one, everyone on board is hurt somehow. It’s just a matter of how bad are you hurt.”

   On Aug. 3, the regiment hit its second IED, the largest ever recorded up to that point, says Strahle. Fourteen Marines suffered fatal injuries. The remaining members of the regiment were sent home not long afterward.

   Returning stateside, Strahle started working for JP Morgan Chase. He was among those present at the initial unveiling in 2008, which took place on Memorial Day.

   “It was a very special day because all of the family members were there, all of the Lima Marines were there,” he says. “And the Lima Marines – these are so good and so real – that none of them wanted to be around the paintings.

   “We were there to support it, we were there to be around the families and help the project, but it was just a difficult room to be in, if you can imagine.”

   Following that initial exhibit, Strahle convinced Miller to show them for a motorcycle rally to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. The idea to take the exhibit on the road formed from there.

   Under the umbrella of a nonprofit, Strahle now takes the show to about 30 to 40 events per year. It was recently featured in The American Legion Magazine. The invitation from PTI came not long after that.

   PTI has been recognized nationally for its efforts to assist military members with financial aid, deployment policy and transition assistance. Through the Yellow Ribbon Program, the school offers institutional aid to veterans who are matched by the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs. The school’s director of public safety, Oakdale Police Chief Dr. James Lauria, is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel. In November of 2012, PTI dedicated a military lounge to its military students, faculty and staff.

    Strahle says that, in the beginning, Miller was driven by a desire to help the families of those depicted in her paintings. Now, however, he sees the exhibit as appealing to a much wider audience.

   “They’re representing something more,” he says. “They’re representing the entire military.”

   The exhibit travels with a Gold Star Registry, a digital collection of records containing the names of every military veteran who has died in the course of active duty since World War I.

   For those who did serve in the regiment, he says that now it’s not unusual for them to travel from near and far to visit the exhibit.

   “Over time that’s helped to heal a lot of the Lima guys who survived, myself included,” he says. “All of the guys who came back home over the years - we’re coming up on 10 years already - the same guys that were in that room avoiding those paintings are the same guys who drive three or four hours to see it.”