ROCKY MOUNT - Most vets will tell you that downtime, especially during deployment, was a significant part of their military career. Aboard ship, sailors find a variety of ways to pass the time between watches. Playing cards and losing money was a common diversion among my shipmates. Reading was mine. Sailors fresh out of boot camp liked to gather to exaggerate tales of conquest and share intelligence for likely encounters of the female kind.

Of the 1,200 men I served with aboard the USS Lexington, three filled their off-duty time creating art. Two were brothers whose physical similarities belied their distinct artistic approaches. All three were excellent artists.

My vivid memories of their work is why I made the trip to the Mims Gallery inside the Dunn Center at N.C. Wesleyan University. Today though Dec. 16 the gallery is presenting "Off Duty," an exhibition of artwork created by soldiers stationed at Fort Bragg. Their works are augmented by military art pieces loaned from the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville.

The work of Sgt. Amy Louise Mills Brown is clearly the star of the exhibition. Her two sculptures could be shown in any gallery in America. Her fiber collage "Dying for Liberty" combines poetry, National Anthem lyrics, soldier portraits and ghost images of captured prisoners. The work conveys sacrifice to me. Others may see despair. You may see something totally different.

Most of the other 35 works from the Fort Bragg soldiers follow the realist tradition of military art. That's on purpose. The military thrives on clarity and uniformity. There is only one way to make up a rack (bed), stow a locker or pack a parachute. The sameness that is designed to produce efficiency also creates a forced shared experience that yields a special brotherhood. That's why detail is critical to much of military art, one of the few venues in which authenticity, not interpretation, triggers the emotional bond between viewer and artist.

Because of its precision, much of the soldiers' art resembles posters. In fact, eight stunning photographs taken by unidentified Army photographers are cheesed up by mimicking those awful one-word motivational posters found in office supply catalogues. These photojournalist-style photographs would communicate much more if they were standalone works. The one-word captions confine their impact.

While too many artists confuse the computer program Photoshop with creativity, that's not the case with Frank Williams. He used the program to create four historically themed photo collages that will likely be the exhibition's most popular pieces. They're colorful, powerful and well composed. My favorite is "Triple Nickles," which I interpret as a tribute to the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, the first all-black unit of its kind. The work had me thumbing through my history books.

However, Williams' "Global War on Terrorism" will probably be the crowd favorite. Its Middle Eastern landmarks are familiar. But it's the gripping expression of an unidentified gunner, who looks like he should be in the mall instead of behind a machine gun, that will force people to stare.

The six works submitted by James McQuilkin are artistically unremarkable. They're hobby art really, but revealing nonetheless. McQuilkin's submissions are the only ones that don't include a single piece of military hardware. Instead, he painted peaceful seascapes.

While the rest of the soldier artists used their work as a form of expression, I think McQuilkin paints to escape, something military personnel need to do from time to time.

Last night, organizers held an opening reception for "Off-Duty," but few of the Fort Bragg artists could attend. Most are deployed overseas. A piece of their artistic spirit is in Rocky Mount.

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