Australia's War in Afghanistan is an extraordinary visual record which recognizes and celebrates the significant contribution that Australian troops have made to the conflict in Afghanistan over the past ten years. Featuring the stunning images of award-winning photographer Gary Ramage, and the words of best-selling defence writer Ian McPhedran, this book is a stunning, moving and comprehensive record of the war.
Over the course of the last ten years, Gary Ramage has travelled extensively with both the United States and the Australian Army in Afghanistan as a civilian and news photographer. Living alongside the soldiers, he has captured images of the battles, the men, and the landscape. His photographs are stunning - powerful, moving, gut-wrenching. They speak of the dirt, blood and the grit of war, of comrades-in-arms, the power of mateship. They also show many unexpected moments of tenderness: a malnourished baby in the arms of a soldier; a child's hand pressed to a window as soldiers march by; a soldier and his dog sleeping together on the ground for warmth. These are the juxtapositions which make his photographs so memorable. He photographs the whole war - not only the battles and their bloody aftermath, but the landscape, the towns, the people, the patrols, the barracks, and the bases. This is Australia's war in Afghanistan.
