We talk a lot in the U.S. about the gratitude rightly owed to the service men and women who fought in our nation's longest war. Less oxygen is spent, if much at all, thank those those from other nations who were not attacked on September 11, but still stepped up and sacrificed their citizens.
Afghanistan: Australia's War by the war photographers Gary Ramage and Ian McPhedran sheds some light on what was also our ally's longest war. The photos are magnificent and representative of the power this medium can pack. They transport the reader to the heart-stopping landscape of Afghanistan. Their photos of soldiers, either in action or in daily life, pluck every string of the heart.
This photograph from 2009 is of mortarmen firing mortars from a patrol base in Logar province.
The green zone was the term used to describe the lush valleys that pocket Afghanistan's terrain where, according to the authors, a lot of fighting would take place due to cover from the crops. The valleys were also the location of Afghanistan's most lucrative, and controversial crop—poppies. This image is of Signaller Lance Corporal David Hodgson, 26 years of age, patrolling in the green zone in 2011. Individuals patrolling the crops also had to watch out for improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
Night's could get very cold in Afghanistan. In this photograph from 2009, Lance Corporal Brandon Tucker is curled up with his dog.
This photograph captures Australian armored vehicles from a distance crossing a dusty roand in a mountain range in Oruzgan Province.
Gary Ramage
Some of the more powerful images in the text depict times when soldiers create an oasis of home amidst war. In the image to the left, soldiers at Forward Operating Base Armadillo in the Helmand Province in 2010 are taking part in an Australia versus England cricket match.
The images in the book, writes Air Chief Marchall Angus Houston, who was commander of the Australian Defence Force from 2005-2011, "drive home the stark reality of the war in Afghanistan and give us all a greater appreciation of the country, its people, the harshness of the environment and the conditions our men and women faced on deployment." The image to the left shows a wounded US Marine being carried to a helicopter.
The children in this photo are happy, but as the book's authors note, “If you are born female in rural Afghanistan” no matter who is in charge “you have drawn the short straw, treated little better than a beast of burden.”
Early in the morning is an understandment when it comes to describing the time of this patrol in the Helmand Province in 2010.
In this photo from the Helmand Province in 2010, a US marine is seen trying to comfort two Marines hit by an IED during a flight to a hospital.
The medical details of this severely injured Afghan boy are written on his chest as he is transported on a US DUSTOFF chopper. "It's war—women and children always pay," declares Major Mark Dauphin, a Canadian surgeon.
The book is peppered with reminders of how difficult the task of training the Afghan National Army was. Cultural differences as well as issues of trust were major obstacles. This image is of an ANA machine gunner named Chora in the Oruzgan Province in 2009.
A suspect in Marjah in 2010 is put into an armored vehicle after which he will be taken to questioning.
The quote running alongside this image from 2011 comes from Colonel Paul Burns, a former SAS Commander: "It's about the people wanting an alternative future ... which in my mind is free from Taliban intimidation. It's not us that are going to win the fight, it's going to be them."
“The first glimpse of the Afghan landscape through a tiny porthole in a C-130 does little to prepare the first-time visitor for the rugged beauty of the Hindu Kush mountain range," the authors explain in the book's introduction.
Afghanistan: Australia's War by Ian McPhedran and Gary Ramage. Published by HarperCollins
