The Derelict Russian Tank
A war photo a day #30
Uncategorized September 10, 2013 .wombatman1
The Derelict Russian Tank
A war photo a day #30
Eight years. Seven wars. More death and destruction than I care to recount. I’ve been covering armed conflict since 2005. Every battlefield has its stories … and its unforgettable images. Follow me through my career at war, one jarring, haunting or sublime photo a day until I run out.
In early 2010 I returned to Afghanistan for my third visit with U.S. and allied troops in that ravaged country. I drove into Parwan province near Kabul with young U.S. Army soldiers. We climbed a mountain path to the rusty shell of a Russian-made tank—a leftover of the Afghan civil war that, in a different guise, continues today.
The lieutenant, likely in his early 20s, told me he liked to bring his men up here to remind them what war costs. I wondered if he truly understood the cost himself.