A soldier rests on the streets of Sadr City, Iraq during a dismounted security patrol June, 2008. Most soldiers and Marines work over ten (and up to 20 or more) hours a day, seven days a week in temperatures reaching 60c/140f. To add to the physical stress, body armor weighs around 18kg/40lbs and combined with other equipment they often carry a total of 31kg/70lbs. The mental stress also weighs on soldiers and Marines, as most of their time outside of bases is spent trying to guess who may be friendly and who may be their enemy.

A U.S. Army soldier offers a young girl a piece of candy while on a security patrol in Sadr City, Iraq - June, 2008.

A young woman sits on the floor of a small house in an exceptionally impoverished neighborhood in Sadr City. She is visibly pained and in mourning, as is the rest of her family who is scattered throughout the house. Her brother is speaking to a U.S. Army interpreter who is relaying the story back to a platoon commander. He is explaining that their brother was just killed by a Mujahideen death squad and is pleading for help in finding the killers and for his families protection. The man hands over his cell phone while pressing a button. A video appears of a young man, obviously frightened sitting on the porch of a house. The video cuts out and then back in again from the same angle the man is shown decapitated with his head sitting next to his body on the steps.

The family then explains that after receiving the video of their dead brother, they went to his home to find it leveled to the ground by an explosion. They show a photo they took of his head, lying in the front yard. I watch as the young children in the house look at the photo of their uncles decomposing head and wonder what a western psychiatrist would say about the damage this may cause.

The family then explains that after receiving the video of their dead brother, they went to his home to find it leveled to the ground by an explosion. They show a photo they took of his head, lying in the front yard. I watch as the young children in the house look at the photo of their uncles decomposing head and wonder what a western psychiatrist would say about the damage this may cause.