Soldiers and Marines deployed in Afghanistan don’t get a break from any of it. There are no days off. For a year-long deployment, you walk out of the wire every day and do your best to walk back in. These pictures were made during the small amount of downtime soldiers and Marines had while I was with them.

For every soldier I met, the little iPod, the hand-held video game or the digital camera in an ammo pouch –- the small, cheap and nearly disposable pieces of tech we take for granted –- are a lifeline. More than an escape from fighting an insurgency thousands of miles from home, they serve as a bridge. A link to the world they are so far away from, to a culture they are not so alien to, to the pictures and the movies and the songs. To outside the camo and kevlar and the guns. A way back home.

Read on for an on-the-ground look at how the tech we take for granted means more for soldiers in Afghanistan.

Above: Marines from 2nd Platoon Fox Company of 2nd Battalion 6th Marines return to their base at Combat Outpost Turbett after a patrol in Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Photo: Victor J. Blue/Wired.com

Authors: Victor J. Blue

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