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.