As America marks Memorial Day, we take a look inside the lives of U.S. service members deployed across Afghanistan.
In Afghanistan: On The Bounce, writer Steven Hartov and photographer Robert Cunningham follow American units from their deployment to the war-torn country until their heartfelt return to the United States.
Cunningham left for Afghanistan in 2011 and while in the country, he embedded with more than 40 different units and followed them on 132 combat missions. He took over 50,000 photographs in total, a selection of which is published in the book.
Cunningham writes in the preface of the book:
"Over the course of two years and multiple tours downrange, I traveled aboard more than one hundred military aircraft and vehicles, from Bagram to Herrera, from Kandahar to Shindand. I was hosted at multiple forward operating bases and more than twenty-two combat outposts, and I spent many nights "outside the wire" sharing a rock for a bed and waiting to be hit. During 132 combat missions, my guides were US Army soldiers, US Air Force pararescuemen, special forces operators, US Navy explosives experts, US Marine Corps infantrymen, military working dogs and Afghan officials and civilians, to name a few. The people I was with were much more than objects of my curiosity. They were my protectors, and I was their witness."
Take a look at some of Cunningham's excellent photos below. You can find the full series in Afghanistan: On The Bounce.
