John D McHugh

Just to help you all catch up, I’ll run through the background quickly. During my two trips to Afghanistan last year, I was bitten bag by the bug for this country. It is a beautiful country, but more importantly, it’s current problems are, I believe, history in the making. And you all know my obsession with history. 

So, in the three months I spent here in 2006 I studied not only the fight against the Taliban, but the fighting against the Russians before, and the wars against the British Empire during the Great Game of the 19^th century. 

I realised that to cover this war properly I would have to be here for more than a few weeks, and after various negotiations, some fast talking, and general shenanigans, I was offered a long-term embed with US forces operating within the NATO coalition. Unfortunately the agency I was working for, AFP, weren’t able to support me in this plan, so I resigned. So, now I am a freelance photographer. With that comes the freedom to decide where I go, how long I stay there, what sort of pictures I produce, and all that good stuff. However, it also means I have to pay for cameras, insurance, flights, sat-phone, etc, so I am gambling a lot on this being a successful project. 

I planned to get here in time for the much lauded “Spring Offensive,” but to stay through the whole year, and really get under the skin of the experience of soldiers on the ground. The situation here is extremely complicated, and dropping in for a few weeks just doesn’t really give a journalist much of a chance of understanding it, let alone reporting it in any depth. MY plan is to move around a lot, with different types of unit, and hopefully pull together enough of their very varied experiences to show people what their lives are like in the middle of this conflict. 

I know I’m going to come in for some criticism because I will be accused of telling a one-sided story, but that is wrong. I am trying to tell an entire story, that of any and all of the soldiers who get sent half-way around the world to an unpopular war that most people don’t understand, and a lot of people don’t care about. How they live, fight, and generally just get through their 15 months here. 

Anyway, that’s the plan, and that is how I find myself here. I am going to do my best to keep you all up to date with my travels, and along the way I’ll attempt to give you an idea of what these soldier’s experiences are really like, by going through some of it with them. I am going to spend as much time as possible “outside the wire,” in the FOBs, Firebases, and outposts all over the volatile areas of the country. 

Communication is going to be sporadic, but I will attempt to update at least once a week. My sat-phone is horrifically expensive, so I will be emailing on a minimal basis, but please feel free to mail me, as I want to keep up with the rest of the world as much as possible. 

So, if you believe then say a prayer for me, and if not, then wish me luck. It’s going to be an interesting year!