Home From Afghanistan to New Battles

There are some stories that pretty much write themselves but usually those stories are due to pictures so powerful words can't even begin to express. This is one of those stories. There are many pictures on this page and they have a story to tell. It is one we have to listen to before it is too late to notice. These men and women are dying AFTER COMBAT and this should bother all of us. The other issue to pay attention to here is the reports about the 10th Mountain and all they went through.

June 7, 2011, 5:00 AM
Home From Afghanistan to New Battles
By JAMES ESTRIN

In Afghanistan with the Third Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division, the photojournalist Erin Trieb faced firefights, anxieties about land mines and the strangeness of being the only woman among hundreds of alpha males. Then came the hard part.

Ms. Trieb, 28, said she found it far more daunting to photograph the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder among the same soldiers when they returned to Fort Drum in upstate New York in December 2009. “Almost every soldier I talked to said they were having problems,” she said. These included drug abuse, binge drinking, attempted suicide and spousal abuse.

She would like to do something about it. On Tuesday, Ms. Trieb plans to open the Homecoming Project, a Web site intended to encourage discussion about the aftermath of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, to connect soldiers and their families with the assistance they need and to offer opportunities for service to organizations and individuals. She is raising money through Kickstarter to expand the site and keep the project going. In addition, her work will be shown Saturday at the Look 3 photo festival in Charlottesville, Va.

“I‘ve been privileged to see things behind closed doors that others don’t get to see,” Ms. Trieb said. “It’s a sacred exchange that comes with responsibilities.”
read more here
Home From Afghanistan to New Battles