It has been nearly three weeks since I left the United States, and this is my first entry. My head has been full of story threads, but the cohesion to tell it only settled in during the past few days. My previous year in Afghanistan from May 2006 to May 2007 has given both insight and burden. The war that I seemed to understand so well when I left has been showing a different face of what one soldier referred to as an "occupation." What it is, what it has become is now what I am seeking to find. With Afghanistan now back on our political map, woven into the two campaigns as the war we have neglected, understanding where we began and where we have arrived has become the theme of this embed. It is a journey that will take me three months this time, a focus not on the whole of the country but in a more specific geographical area. Beginning in Gardez in the east, and in the shadow of the biggest battle post 9-11, Operation Anaconda in March of 2002, to the border of Pakistan and the fight to control the flow of insurgents. This is a trip that seeks to look at the past from the stories of those that were there, to the present with voices and actions of those that are deployed here today.

I left on 17 September 2008, traveling from Portland International via Newark then Delhi to my final destination of Kabul, Afghanistan. The good-byes this time were emotional, as my girlfriend dropped me off at the curb, we spoke more with our eyes, than with the fumbled words of "see you soon." How do you say good-bye to a person traveling to a war zone? I now felt what every soldier feels as they hold their loved-one just one last time, grab their bags, and load the plane, unable to look back. It is yet another glimpse into the insanity of the culture of war, where we realize how much we have, how much we love, in the face of the ultimate sacrifice.

I am photojournalist. It is more than a title. It is calling, beyond what I can explain in words. I am drawn to the stories of conflict, to war, to the places that few tread, but which changes all who walk in its shadow. A degree in History, a passion for photography, a calling to look deep into the dark side of human conflict, to gather the images and the stories that in my hopes will reveal more of what we are, both in greatness and in sorrow. For war predates religion, and shows itself as a constant to the human experience. It offers up the most amazing and heroic aspects of who we are, while revealing the most mortal and tragic pieces that are part of our moral weave. War is a culture unto itself.

With bags in hand, I collected my tickets at the Continental counter, and proceeded to the pre-boarding screening station. My journey had begun...

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