Outside the Wire: American Soldiers' Voices from Afghanistan

Description

A riveting collection of thirty-eight narratives by American soldiers serving in Afghanistan, Outside the Wire offers a powerful evocation of everyday life in a war zone. Christine Dumaine Leche―a writing instructor who left her home and family to teach at Bagram Air Base and a forward operating base near the volatile Afghan-Pakistani border―encouraged these deeply personal reflections, which demonstrate the power of writing to battle the most traumatic of experiences. The soldiers whose words fill this book often met for class with Leche under extreme circumstances and in challenging conditions, some having just returned from dangerous combat missions, others having spent the day in firefights, endured hours in the bitter cold of an open guard tower, or suffered a difficult phone conversation with a spouse back home. Some choose to record momentous events from childhood or civilian life―events that motivated them to join the military or that haunt them as adults. Others capture the immediacy of the battlefield and the emotional and psychological explosions that followed. These soldiers write through the senses and from the soul, grappling with the impact of moral complexity, fear, homesickness, boredom, and despair. We each, writes Leche, require witnesses to the narratives of our lives. Outside the Wire creates that opportunity for us as readers to bear witness to the men and women who carry the weight of war for us all. Contents Foreword by brian turner Preface Acknowledgments spc chantal ogaldez Spring sfc billy wallace Deployment Karbala, Iraq sgt catherine lorfils How Every Soldier Leaves pfc anonymous female They Were Just Kids sgt jarrell robinson Meltdown sgt sean moore Sat Phone Black Op spc karl mulling One Hell of a Long Day marie mulling Protection Our Lives Today pv2 anonymous female Coincidence sfc michael bramlett B-Hut Blues sra michal sakautzki Bombed sgt latayna orama The Hardest Good-bye sgt kevin zimmerman Routine Mission pvt veneta white A Woman, a Boxer sgt jose githens Little Girl, Run . . . It’s Not Safe Here sgt anonymous male Death through a 9x Scope sgt christopher williams My Great Sadness sgt michael diggs 800 West Ash Street sgt jessie evans Busted Disappointment One More Day sgt elether fareaux I Would Rather Die in Afghanistan pvt emily anderson A Moment of Silence spc j. j. saldana Words Unspoken ssg trina priddy Freedom spc anonymous male The Big Bang pvt eneshia myles He’s Gone sgt benjamin lowery Another Day in Paradise a1c nicolas gonzalez Journal Entries sgt jeffrey lambert Field of Fire tsgt jonathon lemaster New Parents Day sgt josh wyly Roses sgt joseph colvin Moving On sgt dan yoke Anna Maria spc andrew stock On the Shoulders of Dead Men spc andrew stock The Hate Soldiers Tell Why Writing Classes in a War Zone Matter On Teaching Writing to Soldiers and Veterans Writing Prompts List of Abbreviations and Military Ranks