War Correspondence

"Sept. 11 was my call to action. If you saw the towers fall and smelled the burning rubble—you understand why I joined."

This is BBDO vp, associate creative director Vann Graves speaking in an e-mail from Mosul, Iraq, Sept. 1, 2006.

"I was sworn in to the U.S. Army on Oct. 20, 2001, at the age of 33."

At that age, a fully thought-out decision, despite the emotions of the moment.

"I was born in 1968 in the capital of the Confederacy, and I was told due to the color of my skin I wouldn't make it. Well, I am living the American dream. But while I was following my dreams, someone else stood up and protected my rights and now it is my turn."

The archetypal Roman citizen-soldier Cincinnatus never could have envisioned the way art director Graves laid down his ploughshare and grabbed a sword.

"It was the week before Labor Day and my partners and I were in Los Angeles shooting the first BBDO spot for Motorola called 'Phone Booth.' That took two days. Then we had to fly to London to shoot the second part of the spot because the same day we signed Madonna she had an accident while on horseback. We thought that she wouldn't be able to work with us, but she was up for it. So we flew to London to shoot the rest of the spot. When we finished in London, we flew back for a recording session for Pepsi with Kanye West and NAS. Kanye had to leave the session for an hour or so for a Hurricane Katrina telethon (this is when he mentioned the president). The next day was Labor Day, and the day after that I was on my way to Fort Dix."

Graves was born in 1968 in Virginia, his mom's family having been there since 1752. His dad came from Arkansas. Vann worked his way through school and earned first a BBA from Howard University with a concentration in marketing and then a master's degree from Pratt Institute. He's since established an endowment for a scholarship at Howard—giving back being a recurring theme in his life. "When I was in college, BBDO came to Howard. I think it was my sophomore year and I knew that's where I wanted to work."

Vann began working at BBDO as an intern. "I was asked to work on a special project, a Christmas card for Phil Dusenberry. I went to his office and there was this grayish-haired, soft-spoken guy. He wanted to know if I had time to work on this project because he knew I was busy.

"I created the Christmas card and went about my business. On the last day of my internship, Phil said, 'You will have a job here when you graduate.' We said we would stay in contact, but I was sure that was just Phil being polite. But we spoke a couple of times after I left and a year later. Three weeks before finals, I spoke to June Baloutine, director of