Slideshows
Nov 26 at 2:02am by admin
The People of Afghanistan
A year before the Iraq War started, I ventured off toward the Honduran/Nicaraguan border in what would be my first excursion into a volatile area of the world as an adventure traveler/journalist. I’d just lost my job as a TV reporter and wanted to expand. I wanted to do more with my profession. And true to my nature, I wanted to do it my way.
Back then, the concept “Battlefield Tourist” included humanitarian issues like the “War on Poverty” and ecological issues like “War on the Aral Sea”, so when I went to Honduras, the idea was to find basic, ground level stories dealing with poverty. In doing so, I found myself taking all sorts of pictures of children. I learned that if you can make the children laugh and smile, the adults around them would do the same - regardless if you spoke a common language.
The next thing you know, I have hundreds of pictures of children and “regular people” from all over the world, and Afghanistan is no exception.
Below is the final of four photo slide shows from my most recent embeds in Farah and Helmand Provinces in southern Afghanistan, as well as some images from folks I ran into in Kabul. I run these photos to give you an idea of the people our friends, neighbors and relatives are fighting and dying for.
The People of Afghanistan 2009
Musa Qala District Center
In mid-February I was invited to go to Musa Qala, Helmand Province and embed with 3/8 Marines who make up the Police Mentoring Team (PMT) there. These Marines come from a variety of places throughout the battalion, including from the battalion commanders own Personal Security Detatchment.
A Battlefield Tour of Musa Qala District Center
Bakwa District, Farah
Here are all the pictures from my time in Bakwa, Farah Province. The unit is 3/8 Marines from Camp Lejeune. These pictures are from the second week of February 2009, and unknown to me at the time, part of Operation Pathfinder.
A Battlefield Tour of Bakwa, Farah Province
Musa Qala South, Helmand Province
Here’s a set of photos I took with British and Afghan troops as we probed the front line south of Musa Qala District Center, Helmand Province in February.
A Battlefield Tour of Musa Qala South
Arab Jabour (southeast of Baghdad)
By taking the time to visit places, like Iraq, I always seem to meet interesting folks after the fact. There’s a number of reasons why people write to me. Usually, though, it’s because of a connection. Sometimes that connection is a dead soldier, and when it is, it really makes me think.
Recently, a man named Ed Kirkpatrick, dropped me a note. His son, Scott, was killed in Arab Jabour back in August. He decided to write to me because he has unanswered questions about his son’s death. Since I was the first civilian he’d encountered that had been to the area, he thought, just perhaps, I could help him. He still doesn’t have any questions I can help him with, but he believes the more he knows about the place that took his son, the better his mind can be at ease for his sacrifice.
So, this is for you and your family, Ed. Maybe someone out there will see this and be able to help you more. I hope these images help you understand what it is you’re looking for.
COP Corregidor and al-Haswa (southwest of Baghdad)
Southwest of Baghdad is an area called al-Haswa, a Sunni region in the area of Iraq known as South Baghdad. It’s an area that is part of Iraq’s notorious “Triangle of Death”. It’s also the area that, up through October, was assigned to “B” Troop, 1-89 Cavalry, part of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2nd BCT. The unit established COP Corregidor as part of the US military’s new strategy to put smaller units among the population in an effort to stimulate cooperation. From this strategy shift, the “Concerned Citizens” movement began to take root across the area, following the successful template being used in Anbar Province.
The following slideshow is a handful of pictures I took while spending a few days at the outpost:
A Tour of COP Corregidor and al Haswa
East Rashid/Al-Doura (southeast Baghdad)
3/2 Stryker Battalion Combat Team once again started combat operations in Iraq in August 2007. Prior to that, the unit immortalized by military writer, Michael Yon, spent a combat tour on the mean streets of Mosul in 2005. When I caught up with this unit in September 2007, they were assigned to clear a neighborhood known as “Mechanic’s Elbow”. At this time, the US presence in this area was rare. With surge forces in place elsewhere, 3/2 SBCT was assigned to clear this neighborhood, one of the last bastions in Bagdad for the very deadly terrorist group, Al Qaeda in Iraq.
A Tour of East Rashid/Al-Doura
Mahmudiyah (South Baghdad)
Just south of Baghdad is an area called, “South Baghdad”, which includes the city of al-Mahmudiyah. Mahmudiyah is a mostly Shia city of 150,000 people, surrounded by a mostly Sunni rural area. Mahmudiyah is also the northern tip of the “Triangle of Death”. When I was there in September 2007, the area was being secured by 2nd Battalion, 15th Field Artillery Regiment; one of the many units these days doing much more than what their unit’s designation indicates. 2/15 FA has since returned to the United States.
South Baghdad
This is the final slideshow from my recent trip to Iraq. South Baghdad is the area of Baghdad Province south of the city itself. These images are the remaining images that did not make it into my previous presentations, all of which are taken in September 2007. If you have enjoyed these images, please feel free to drop me a donation… anything helps. These images are also for sale for whatever publication you may need them for, so please get in touch.
Kabul
Since my Iraq presentations went over so well, I decided to post my Afghan archive as well. This is the first of more than a dozen planned presentations that will take you around Afghanistan in 2004. It was in this year that I covered the country, from the ground, in expectation of that country’s first free presidential election. The following 57 pictures are from Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, as well as some shots from nearby Bagram Airfield.
Units covered: 76th Indiana Infantry, Romanian/ISAF forces and the Afghan National Army.
My War
Here’s a collection of my favorite pictures from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Kapisa Provinice, Afghanistan
This presentation follows a MEDCAP mission from Bagram to Kapisa Province in November, 2004.
Operation El Dorado
Follow Marines of BLT 1/6, 22nd MEU conduct a cordon and search following a deadly ambush. Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan. May, 2004.
Tarnak Farms
This slideshow takes you inside of Osama bin Laden’s favorite terrorist training camp, Tarnak Farms. Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. April 2004. Please note in the slideshow that I mention OBL comes to the area in 1994. That is inaccurate and should say 1996.
I also do not want to give a false impression with another caption in the slideshow. From my research, Tarnak Farms was called, “The Base”, which in Arabic means, “Al Qaeda”. I did not mean to suggest that the terror group itself derived its name from the camp, which it did not.
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