CONTENTS

Kingston, January 2007 – 1

Flights In – 2

Landing in Kabul – 3

The Road to Bagram – 4

Souvenirs – 5

Kabul University – 6

Earthquake at Camp Julien – 8

Electoral Candidate – 9

Knock-offs – 10

July in Brishna Kot – 11

The Morning Commute – 12

The White School House – 13

Firefight – 14

Working for the Coalition – 15

The Wrong Crowd – 16

Repatriation and a Rainstorm – 18

Helicopter Crash – 19

The General’s Briefing – 20

Casting the Net – 21

Shades of Grey – 23

Incoming – 24

Soft Things – 25

An Awning of Birds – 26

Friendly Fire – 27

Little Bird – 28

Medics on Their Break – 29

Heavy – 30

Fishing for Taliban – 32

Optics – 33

On the Wall – 34

Start of the Rainy Season – 35

Drowning in a Kharez – 36

Killed by a Suicide Bomber, December 6 – 37

Driftwood – 38

Dangerous Men – 39

Hearing from God – 40

Fawns – 41

Flights out of Howz-e Madad – 42

Man From Uruzgan – 43

Death Like Divorce – 44

Omar – 45

Mass Murder and a Dog Fight – 46

Life on the Forward Operating Base – 47

Embedded – 48

Panjwayi – 49

Not Wasting Time on Griefs That Don’t Matter – 50

Halfway House – 51

Seasons in Kandahar – 52

Self-Immolation – 53

Life in a Cemetery – 54

The Only Chair in the Room – 55

Dust Storm at Kandahar Airfield – 56

Forecast – 57

Disconnected – 58

Taliban – 59

A Night in Hospital – 61

Ahmadullah’s Toes – 62

August – 63

Naming The Sound That Took His Life – 64

Notes on a Soldier – 65

Car Bomb – 66

Burying the Rabbit – 67

Market Scarf – 68

Rain – 69

Last Looks – 70

Horizon Pool –71

Masham Means Evening – 72