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The heat and the dust and the diesel fumes. The constant drone of the generators, of vehicles, of radio static. The same food everyday, the same meal in the same brown plastic bag. The constant danger and uncertainty. The confusion, wonder and consequences waiting for you outside the wire.
Soldiers and Marines deployed in Afghanistan don’t get a break from any of it. There are no days off. For a year-long deployment, you walk out of the wire every day and do your best to walk back in. These pictures were made during the small amount of downtime soldiers and Marines had while I was with them.
For every soldier I met, the little iPod, the hand-held video game or the digital camera in an ammo pouch –- the small, cheap and nearly disposable pieces of tech we take for granted –- are a lifeline. More than an escape from fighting an insurgency thousands of miles from home, they serve as a bridge. A link to the world they are so far away from, to a culture they are not so alien to, to the pictures and the movies and the songs. To outside the camo and kevlar and the guns. A way back home.
Read on for an on-the-ground look at how the tech we take for granted means more for soldiers in Afghanistan.
Above: Marines from 2nd Platoon Fox Company of 2nd Battalion 6th Marines return to their base at Combat Outpost Turbett after a patrol in Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Personal technology is so cheap and ubiquitous that is has transformed the experience of deployed soldiers and marines. No longer restricted to just playing cards or writing letters home, grunts can now watch films in their downtime, trade music, play videogames and take photos of their deployment on small, inexpensive devices that nearly all of them carry.
Above: Lance Cpl. Sean P. Coover, of 2nd Battalion 6th Marines, watches a movie on his Toshiba laptop in a tent at a forward operating base, Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Lance Cpl. Garrett Newman, of 1st Platoon 4th Squad of Fox Company 2nd Battalion 6th Marines, rests during a patrol with a helmet cam attached to his kevlar near the Chor-Cherey bazaar in Marjah, Afghanistan. Marines like Newman can record their experiences on patrol, turning the camera on and letting it run until something interesting happens, like the firefight that took place later that morning.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Staff Sgt. Brandon Washington, of 1st Platoon Fox Company 2nd Battalion 6th Marines, listens to his iPod while Navy Corpsman Jeremy “Doc” Taylor looks at family photos after a day of patrols at their base near the Chor-Cherey bazaar. With no access to phones or e-mail, looking over pictures from home is one of the few ways these guys have to feel connected to friends and family.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Jorge Gonzales, of 1st Platoon Fox Company 2nd Battalion 6th Marines, listens to his iPod while giving Pfc. Benjamin Torgusen a haircut in Marjah. Just about everyone carries an iPod on deployment. At any one time, there can be a dozen individual soundtracks playing around the base.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Navy Corpsman Jeremy “Doc” Taylor, of 1st Platoon Fox Company 2nd Battalion 6th Marines, takes a picture of an Afghan farmer named Aziz Rahman while Taylor’s fellow soldiers talk to Rahman about nearby insurgents during a patrol in northwestern Marjah. Small digital cameras have become a necessary part of the kit for deployed Marines, used for documenting locals, remembering landmarks and recording evidence found on patrol.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Marines from 1st Platoon Fox Company 2nd Battalion 6th Marines pose with their Afghan counterparts after eating dinner together at their patrol base near the Chor-Cherey bazaar. Many deployed Marines carry laptops with them, as well as external hard drives, making it easy to trade and copy each other’s digital media.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Jorge Gonzales, of 1st Platoon, Fox Company 2nd Battalion 6th Marines, looks at pictures on his digital camera of himself and his Afghan counterparts. Small, light, cheap and high-quality digital cameras give soldiers and Marines a means to document and remember their deployment in a way that was not possible in previous conflicts.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Lance Cpl. Oscar Cedeno, of 2nd Battalion 6th Marines, watches episodes of the television show Heroes on a broken HP laptop during downtime at his patrol base. Downrange can be a tough environment for laptops that get bumped, dropped, and filled with dust and dirt.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Spc. Anthony Stella (left), Spc. Andrew Hajec (above) and Spc. Jesse Arn (below), from the 1st Squad 1st Platoon 170th Company of the 504th MP Battalion, watch movies and play Xbox during downtime at a station in Police District 7 in Kandahar City. When they come out to the station from their forward operating base, they bring along their computers and hard drives -– even a whole Xbox system.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Driver Spc. Brenton Talley, of 1st Squad 1st Platoon 170th Company of the 504th MP Battalion, searches for the right cable so he can watch a movie on his laptop during a pause between missions in Police District 7 in Kandahar City. The small size of laptops and netbooks make it easy for soldiers to carry them in rucksacks, breaking them out to occupy whatever downtime they find for themselves.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Spc. Tommy Helms, of 1st Squad 1st Platoon 170th Company of the 504th MP Battalion, watches a movie on his laptop during downtime at a base in Police District 7 in Kandahar. Soldiers in the 170th work on a rotation, spending time at the station either trying to mentor Afghan police, or pulling guard duty. When not on either, the headphones come out and the DVDs go in.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Pfc. Stevie Longfellow, Spc. Derek Turner, and Pfc. Mike Yang (left to right), of the 2nd Squad 1st Platoon 170th Company of the 504th MP Battalion, relax in the evening, playing the video game Rainbow VI, Vegas 2 on a Playstation at a station in Police District 15 in Kandahar City.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
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Staff Sgt. Jose Zamora, of 3rd Squad 2nd Platoon Fox Company of 2nd Battalion 6th Marines, leads a fire team through a field during a late afternoon patrol in Marjah.
Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com
