Light Scribed | Jeffrey Dale
Afghanistan
While deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 as a member of the International Security & Assistance Force (ISAF) I took over 8,000 images. Some of these images appear in both of my photobooks (available for purchase) while others are appearing here visible to the public for the first time.
SPC Todd on the perimeter during sun rise during the Battle of May 19th.
Living in communal spaces often times required doing things by flashlight to prevent waking those who worked other shifts and were still sleeping.
This was the second image I took during the Battle of May 19th - the first with my DSLR (I used a point and shoot in my body armor for the first). The image gives the nature of that morning: still dark, jovial - it was a party.
An NCO from the 190th MP Company looks towards the permitter during the Battle of May 19th.
SPC Todd and SPC Kelley during the earlier moments of the Battle of May 19th. So quick was the reaction that most troops were in their Physical Training uniforms when they reacted. Todd has since left the US Army but returned to Afghanistan as a helicopter mechanic - a reminder of the way the war would continue effect those who served.
The 45 man tents TFRM originally lived in after they were abandoned for the RLBs.
Soldiers from the TFRM Signal Section head towards the perimeter fence of their camp during the Battle of May 19th. Months later 30' tall blast wall would be installed in two rings around the camp but at the time two 8' chain link fences are all that made up the 'wire'.
The slang term for barracks in the US Army is often times simply "the B's" and their resemblance to dorms is the most simple connection for civilians. In Afghanistan eventually we lived in RLB's - Re-Locatable Buildings (also called CHU, Containerized Housing Unit) and here was a glimpse into the life - inside it was something like a dorm room found at any college in the US - outside was the war zone Afghanistan.
