@82

"EVERYDAY I PRAY IT IS'NT HIM" writes Joanna, a medic on the front line.  Her boyfriend is also serving on the front line in Afghanistan with 3 PARA (3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment).  'Op Minimise' is when a soldier has been killed and the military stop all communications with home until families have been told.

@57

In this story a soldier writes about 'Op Massive' - staying fit and working out.  His training partner is injured during an operation.  Black humour is used to good effect.  Names have been covered to protect the identity of the injured.

@55

Three paratroopers from 3 PARA Patrols write their story of a reconnaissance, finding a massive IED, a contact with the Taliban and getting back to their Check Point for brews (cups of tea)...

Global thank you

A huge thank you to those who are reading these amazing stories, in the past 24 hours from Kazakhstan, Taiwan, USA, China, Canada, UK, Pakistan, Brazil, Spain, Israel and Germany.  Please keep reading and sharing.

Frieze Magazine Blog

For a recent summary of the Afghan Diary Room project published in Frieze Magazine please see:

blog.frieze.com/afghanistan-a-war-artists-blog/

Captain Fame Taylor

Captain Fame Taylor with the Irish Guards at Khar Nikah

@32

On the ground in Afghanistan I was surprised to find Afghan and British soldiers clearing Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) from deserted Afghan villages in order to make them safe from insurgent bombes.  Once the IEDs had been cleared families were being moved back into their homes.  Here a paratrooper describes this process and the casualties which resulted.  Names have been edited out in line with UK military policy of not disclosing the names of the injured.  Below is an image of the village,

Khar Nikah

Here an Irish Guardsman writes his story of this conflict in between patrols.  I noticed that the soldiers wrote their stories with the same intensity with which they fought.

Diary Room, Patrol Base Kalang

This was the first of the three Diary Rooms I created on the front line in Helmand.  It was inside a shipping container next to the helicopter landing site in one of the most dangerous places in Afghanistan.

@20

A soldier writes a comparison between what he sees in Afghanistan and life back home and how seeing a father and son in a field reminds him of making a living working with his Dad "but the only battle we had was the one my mother had to fight off cancer".

@2

A soldier writes ..."this tour has been a sobering and maturing experience.  Its certainly increased the wrinkles and the creases in my face which has resulted in me looking 28 and I'm 20.....its changed my train of thought and my view of life and death completely...."

@1

Poetry from the front line: "...I have felt the blistering cold, Stared death in the face, and enjoyed only a moments love..."

These are their stories, published one story a day for a year.