Stories
Elliott’s Stories
Third Squad, Part 1: Life in Sangin
July 2011
In the first segment of a three-part audio portrait series, four of Third Squad's Marines describe daily life in one of southern Afghanistan's bloodiest districts.
Third Squad, Part 2: Danger and Death
July 2011
In the second segment of a three-part audio portrait series, four of Third Squad's Marines reflect on living with the constant threat of death and dismemberment.
Third Squad, Part 3: What We Know
July 2011
In the final segment of a three-part audio portrait series, three of Third Squad's Marines and their Navy Hospital Corpsman talk about what they've learned at war, and what they'll share with friends and family at home in the United States.
All That Remains
July 2011
Following the collapse of the Taliban, an Afghan refugee returns to Kabul after two decades in the United States. As he tries to reclaim his family property, he encounters a very different society than the one he left behind.
Herat Burning
September 2010
Self-immolation among young women is on the rise in western Afghanistan. Meet self-immolation survivors and two women who are trying to help them.
Another Day in the ’Dab
August 2010
The Arghandab River Valley conceals southern Afghanistan’s equivalent to the Ho Chi Minh trail, offering cover for Taliban smugglers. The number of US troops there has doubled in recent months, but the district remains untamed—and lethal.
Our Deepest Sympathies
July 2010
When a young girl severely wounded by an IED is brought to the gate of their compound, the Navy Hospital Corpsmen of Lima Company of the 3/6 Marines struggle to keep her alive until a helicopter can come to medevac her out.
On Patrol in Marjah: With Lima Company
July 2010
Marjah is criss-crossed with irrigation canals fed by the Helmand River. As part of the counterinsurgency strategy, Marines there occupy small bases in the midst of farming communities and go on daily patrols to engage the Taliban.
On Patrol in Marjah: Watchers
July 2010
While patrolling the footpaths of Marjah, a platoon from Lima Company of the 3/6 Marines looks out for Taliban spotters on motorcycles and suspects they may be phoning information to a local elder even while the Marines are visiting his compound.
On Patrol in Marjah: Ambushes
July 2010
While on patrol in north Marjah, Lima Company of the 3/6 Marines came under repeated attack from the same location. Finally, they decide to set an ambush—but, later in the day, the Marines find they are the ones taken by surprise.
Digging Out
July 2010
Afghans’ best hope for their future might not be foreign aid but the rich mineral deposits right under their feet—but will they fight equally against the Taliban insurgency and the graft and greed of government ministers?
The Path to Yaghestan
October 2009
Yaghestan means “land of the rebellious” and has been used at various points in history to describe the habit of Afghan alliances to splinter into a million tribal shards when overlords—foreign or domestic—push the limits of centralized control.
On Patrol with Apache Company
October 2009
Lieutenant Mark Hogan leads the soldiers of 2nd Platoon, Apache Company, 2-87 Infantry of the US Army on patrol through the village of Do Ab.
The Soft Knock
October 2009
The soldiers have been patrolling and searching houses, directly engaging the enemy, but with the “soft knock” approach, the owner of a property must give his permission to the troops at his door before they can come in.
Public Stories
Don
on March 27, 2012
My primary job was advisor to an Afghan general in Kabul. Sometime in September 2009, I think it was, my interpreter, Nik, grabbed me on camp and said, "the general called, and we have to get over to the Ministry of Defense compound now." We were still under an edict at that time to wear body...
Lima Ahmad
on April 5, 2011
The Sorrow of War—what a book title! The name even discourages me from reading it. I still don’t know why I picked up this novel and read it. Maybe I am always hoping there might be a way to escape from my own experience of war by reading other people’s experiences.
Daniel Steciak
on April 5, 2011
The smell is overpowering. Sickly-sweet, unclean, tinged with the metallic undertone of blood. Flies are everywhere, and blood is pooling at the bottom of the body bags underneath what was our enemy. “Steciak, come here, I think this one is yours.” It’s Webb, our forward observer, standing...
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Mark Burrell
on April 2, 2011
March 13, 2011 (Dewegal Valley, Kunar Province, Afghaistan) Well, I got shot at today. Again. It's an unsettling feeling. I'm normally torn between shooting my camera or my rifle. That wasn't a choice this time. We were walking up a stretch of mountain trying to surprise the enemy. The platoon that...
U.S. Army Sgt. Ginifer Spada
on April 2, 2011
Raishea is a young Afghan girl of about fourteen. She has a shy smile and a soft voice. She is quite like most fourteen-year-old girls I know. Except that her reality in Afghanistan’s war-torn Nangarhar Province is something that most people can’t fathom. I got the incredible opportunity to...
Bonnie V'Soske
on February 28, 2011
When I met with the provincial education official in Bamiyan he used the words "Blood and Smoke" to describe what the Hazara people of Bamiyan province have had to endure during their history. He said “Our hearts still hurt from the destruction of the Taliban." He explained that for the past...
Cpt. Jeffrey Aebischer
on February 27, 2011
When I arrived in Arghandab District in the summer of 2010, as a platoon leader with the 1-320th Field Artillery Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, Combat Outpost Nolen had been under siege for most of the early summer months by Taliban fighters occupying the village of Charqolba Olya. We started...
Bonnie V'Soske
on February 25, 2011
After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan after ten years of vicious fighting which took the lives of a million Afghans, several factions of the Mujahedeen fought for control of Kabul. Two of the most stunning buildings were the Darulaman Palace and the National Museum in the southern part of...
Hashim
on January 31, 2011
In Afghanistan, we have Friday—the Islamic day of prayer—as a holiday (since a month ago, we've had holidays on Thursday too due to terrible air pollution). On January 28, I was having lovely Friday holiday with my family, sitting inside a warm room drinking tea, when I suddenly got a call from...
Daniel Steciak
on January 21, 2011
It is evening time, and five of us are sitting in a warm room around the fire. The room is dim, and smells of wood smoke, cigarettes, and dust. Months ago, the room had been a farmer’s barn; now it is a makeshift living quarters for soldiers. Our small outpost is a walled compound on a hill,...
AD
on January 11, 2011
Foot Patrol and the girl sinking; August 2010 started badly in Bamiyan. It was the first day of August, cloudy and hazy, me and a team of three American soldiers headed on foot patrol to OCC-P to go and check with them, as we were jumping to cross the river, we heard someone is screaming so loud-we...
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