This collection of images was compiled from candid photographs taken by a United States Army Recon Sniper while serving his tour of duty during Operation Iraqi Freedom. They are not the result of a professional photographer, using expensive equipment, operating under the illusion of safety provided by having the word PRESS emblazoned on a vest.

These images are not the standardized, often choreographed products created to generate profits and define narratives; in order to propagandize people living thousands of miles away. These photos were not created to be commercialized; and for many years – there was no intention to ever make them public.

Unlike the scores of repetitive images that distilled innumerable events and hundreds of thousands of personal experiences into soulless stock footage; the photos published in this book document moments, from the extraordinary to the mundane, that the world has never seen. The hope is to provide an organic insight into the everyday lives of the individuals affected by the conflict and to dignify their experiences with truthful context.

Without question, Operation Iraqi Freedom reshaped our world. Yet the events of those years are far too complex, multi-faceted and nuanced to be simplified into a single word. By its very nature, war is never simple. It’s neither black and white, nor so easily defined as good versus bad. It could be argued that no other chain of events can so fully encapsulate the breadth of the human experience. There is sorrow, and death; there is selflessness, and kindness that transcends both cultural and national identities.

Terror and tedium walk hand in hand in a war zone; among people that must still somehow find a way to continue living life as normally as possible. Children still play games, people make love, give birth, become married, and make friends.

Often the term “lost” is used to describe those that did not return from a war. It is an affront to decency to use euphemisms such as this to soften the truth. Many of us have friends and loved ones that were not lost; they were killed, some in horrific and brutal ways. Tragically, far too many more returned from war forever changed, permanently wounded, both mentally and physically.

Intellectual integrity also demands that we recognize, and be thankful for, those that, honoring their oaths, were subjected to the horrors that nations inflict upon citizens. Especially said warriors who, upon returning from war, dedicate themselves with vigor to making the world around them better; helping to lift up those around them that are in need.

Society places too much focus upon acts of aggression that military members sometimes must do; all while wholly ignorant of the context. How many more rounds have been fired in defense of fellow service members than in offensive maneuvers? How many foreign civilians have been saved by a soldier with a keen eye, a kind heart, discretion, and if necessary, a temperate use of force?

As a people, we are largely ignorant of how fortunate we are to have those willing and able to put themselves in harm’s way to protect others. We regrettably remain too willing to ignore those that have, and continue to need our support to rebuild their lives; after surviving what most of us are unwilling to do.