Battleland

Army Life: The Waiting Never Ends

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Army photo / Spc. Alexandra Campo

They say war is long stretches of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror – or maybe excitement. Two recent military photos illustrate the point. In one, a lonely soldier awaits attack by the enemy. In the second, hundreds of troops anxiously await the arrival of their command-in0-chief. Both, of course, involve long stretches of waiting.

In the first one, Army Private 1stClass Shane Cantu provides security during a combat operation outside Combat Outpost Charkh near the Kharwar mountain range in Afghanistan’s Logar province on August 23.

Army photo / Spc. Melissa Parrish

In the second, soldiers assigned to the 1st Armored Division wait to hear President Obama speak at Fort Bliss, Texas, on Aug. 31, with the Franklin Mountains looming in the background.

What caught Battleland’s eye is the similar topography, even though the two photographs were made eight days, and 8,000 miles, apart.