Outside the wire : American soldiers' voices from Afghanistan / edited by Christine Dumaine Leche ; foreword by Brian Turner.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Leche, Christine Dumaine, 1949-

Turner, Brian.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Afghan War, 2001-2021--Personal narratives, American.

Afghan War, 2001-2021.

Soldiers' writings, American.

United States--Armed Forces--Military life--Anecdotes.

United States.

United States--Armed Forces--Biography--Anecdotes.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (174 p.)

Place of Publication:

Charlottesville : University of Virginia Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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:

Spring / SPC Chantal Ogaldez

Deployment / SFC Billy Wallace

Karbala, Iraq / SFC Billy Wallace

How every soldier leaves / SGT Catherine Lorfils

They were just kids / PFC Anonymous Female

Meltdown / SGT Jarrell Robinson

Sat phone black op / SGT Sean Moore

Hell of a long day / SPC Karl Mulling

Protection / Marie Mulling

Our lives today / Marie Mulling

Coincidence / PV2 Anonymous Female

B-hut blues / SFC Michael Bramlett

Bombed / SrA Michal Sakautzki

The hardest good-bye / SGT Latayna Orama

Routine mission / SGT Kevin Zimmerman

A woman, a boxer / PVT Veneta White

Little girl, run . . . it's not safe here / SGT Jose Githens

Death through a 9x scope / SGT Anonymous Male

My great sadness / SGT Christopher Williams

West ash street / SGT Michael Diggs

Busted / SGT Jessie Evans

Disappointment / SGT Jessie Evans

More day / SGT Jessie Evans

I would rather die in Afghanistan / SGT Elether Fareaux

A moment of silence / PVT Emily Anderson

Words unspoken / SPC J. J. Saldana

Freedom / SSG Trina Priddy

The big bang / SPC Anonymous Male

He's gone / PVT Eneshia Myles

Another day in paradise / SGT Benjamin Lowery

Journal entries / A1C Nicolas Gonzalez

Field of fire / SGT Jeffrey Lambert

New parents day / TSGT Jonathon LeMaster

Roses / SGT Josh Wyly

Moving on / SGT Joseph Colvin

Anna Maria / SGT Dan Yoke

On the shoulders of dead men / SPC Andrew Stock

The hate / SPC Andrew Stock

Soldiers tell why writing classes in a war zone matter

On teaching writing to soldiers and veterans

Writing prompts

List of abbreviations and military rank.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780813934129

0813934125

OCLC:

833384954