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Painting Military - 2 / 3 Show description + hide description – Gen. Tullio Del Sette, left, who leads Italy's Carabinieri Corps, presents a book of graphic illustrations as a gift to Spc. Zee H. Leung, right, multimedia illustrator in the Directorate of Multimedia and Visual Information. Just in advance... (Photo Credit: U.S. ) VISIT ORIGINAL

3 / 3 Show description + Hide description – Spc. Zee H. Leung (right), a multimedia illustrator with the Pentagon's Directorate of Multimedia and Visual Information, painted a mural highlighting the relationship between U.S. Military Police and Military Police... (Photo Credit: U.S.) VIEW ORIGINAL

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WASHINGTON (Newser) - Since turning 18 just 15 years ago, Spc. Four of his lifelong dreams have come true for Zee H. Leung.

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First, his family finally immigrated to the United States from China in 2006 after a long process that they started when they filed their papers in 1998. Second, Leung became a United States citizen in 2012, six years after arriving in New York.

Third, he became a US soldier, entered the US and was sent to basic training just months after receiving his college degree.

And fourth, as part of his official duties now as a multimedia illustrator, he painted a painting that now hangs in a museum in Rome, Italy.

Leung works as a 25M or multimedia illustrator for , and is now assigned to the Pentagon's Multimedia and Visual Information Directorate, where he and his teammates provide graphic support to the headquarters division.

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In June 2016, the executive officer along with the provost marshal approached AMVID staff members with a proposal: Major General Mark S. Inch's counterpart in the Italian Army, Gen. Tullio Del Sette was due to visit later in the year and Inch wanted to present him with a painting. He hoped that AMVID could do it.

As a graphic artist trained in painting and drawing, Leung was asked to create a painting. He was essentially commissioned as a modern-day Michelangelo. Today, Leung is ecstatic about Italian art and the opportunity to paint something for Italians.

"It was very important and an honor to do it for them," he said. "I was fortunate to have the opportunity to paint this picture that depicts the long history and achievements and cooperation between the US Military Police and the Italian Military Police."

Although he was trained as an artist, he actually drew not so much on his painting skills as on his graphic skills. As a 25M soldier, he spends more time producing work on the computer than on screen. So he worried that his painting skills might have rusted from disuse.

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In order to make the painting happen, Leung also had to do a lot of research on the American Italian Police and the Italian Military Police.

"I immediately started researching," he said. "I used those five months very productively. I wouldn't say I was sure all the time, but... to be able to create this little piece of art and use it internationally to improve the relationship between our countries was just a great honor."

The final work was presented to the Italians in November, about five months after he was asked to begin it.

"General Inch met his peers," Leung recalled. "They were kind enough to let me unveil the painting by myself. They covered it with cloth and I was able to unveil it with the Italians. ... It was an exciting day for me to see my work recognized."

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Inch and Del Sette are depicted in the painting, as well as representations of the US Criminal Investigation Division and the Protective Services Battalion. It represented the Italians and included the Carabinieri police as well as a regiment of cuirassiers who served in a similar role to the US 3rd Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard).

The image also includes the US capital, and the US capital corresponds to the Roman Colosseum, whose presence, according to Leung, symbolizes "the glorious past that the Italians have and also what their MP Corps is supposed to protect: the heritage, the cultural heritage, the rich fantastic art that they have." "

The background of the image contains the colors of the Italian flag: green, white and red, and also includes two pistols symbolizing the American MP Corps, as well as a flaming grenade symbolizing the Italian MP Corps.

Today the painting hangs in the Carabinieri Museum in Rome. "I love Italian art so much," Leung said. "It's really a great honor."

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Looking back to his elementary school days in China, when his family first applied for permission to come to the United States, Leung said he was no stranger to the kind of strict discipline he later faced in the US.

“Schools [in China] always push you,” he recalls. "I had about three sessions a day, every day, from the morning until 9 o'clock at night... It was very intense for me. But it was rewarding because it gave me some discipline to discipline myself. The pressure... I think , that it will set me up for success in the long run.”

From a young age, Leung was interested in art and by the time he reached high school, he concentrated on visual arts, painting and sketching and drawing with various types of materials: watercolor, gauche and acrylic.

Leung had known since elementary school that he would eventually come to the United States. His grandmother paved the way for him, he said.

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"My grandmother was in the US for a long time," Leung said. "She asked for my family to come here. We started the process back in 1998."

With visas in hand, Leung and his family finally came to the United States in 2006. Leung was about 18 or 19 at the time, he said.

However, Leung could not immediately resume his artistic training. He realized that before he could study fine arts, he would first have to master English.

In the United States, he attended a community college in New York to improve his language skills. After two years, he transferred to the State University of New York at New Paltz to continue his art education.

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In 2012, just as he was finishing his graduation and diploma, he went through two dramatic life events; the first was to become an American citizen. It was one of the proudest days of his life, he said.

"Because actually, when I was very young, very small, I already dreamed of coming to the United States. Before I came here, I had dreams of walking the streets of New York."

"I was about to graduate and I didn't know what to do next," he recalled. “But it was always something I wanted to do because of the discipline.

Right after graduating in May 2012, Leung returned to New York and visited the recruiting center in Brooklyn. The recruiter told him about the 25M career field opening, which is relatively small compared to a career field like the infantry.

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He was sworn in at Fort Hamilton, New York, and sent to basic training in July.

"I was really lucky to get to that spot," Leung said. "So I signed up right away. It was also exciting. I can finally do what I've always wanted: a multimedia illustrator in ."

Leung recognized the conflict between the creative freedom he wanted as an artist and the discipline that came with serving in the theater, but he always knew he could do it.

"I like creative freedom, no restrictions. I want to be myself," he admitted. “But I also wanted to try and see if I could do it as a soldier… As an art student finishing my bachelor's degree, I thought I could use my creative skills and .

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Leung's first assignment was not at the Pentagon, but rather at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he served with Bravo Company, 6th Military Information Support Battalion. Between advanced individual training and Bragg, he also attended flight school at Fort Benning, Georgia.

After Fort Bragg, Leung came to the Pentagon to work at AMVID. He is now applying for a job at the White House Communications Agency.

"I hope I get it," he said. "I'm hoping to do bigger jobs. [It's] really ... the highest position you can imagine at 25 million, working for the president. It's a very exciting role."

And when his career is one day over, Leung said he plans to use the benefits of a veteran's education to earn a master's degree in fine arts from New York University or Columbia.

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