The folowing is a composition that I wrote from the point of view of my friend Tony. It lightley brushes up on my personal experances in Afghanistan:

Can we play spot the Alien? I cant believe that this picture was just taken two years ago. To me it was everyday life a fucked up world. How could we be so young and have the weight of the world on our shoulders? I could not have held it without my boys. Together we made it threw a hell hole that not one of us standing alone could have done. Yeah people say I'm skeachey, I have the fucking right to be. They don't know what its like to have been where we have been. They have no Fucking clue, they only have the media telling them what to think. The media is fucked up too! They cover Iraq like flys on a dead body. It seams as if our homeland has forgotten about us, because we are doing the shit the right way. But Hey thats life, I shouldn't get to angry about it.
That is Alien, my best friend. What Can I say I love him and I hate him. There have been many times that I wanted to rip his head off, but I got too much love for this guy. Some of the dumb shit he did relay pissed me off, like throw a 200+ rave on an air force beach...hehe. I had a great time, until the MPs showed up. Thats when I hid in the woods(I didn't want to explain to my first Sargent that we were throwing raves on the weekends), while Alien talked to the MPs all fucked up. I don't know how he did it, but they let us keep the party there for the rest of the night. The night ended with an awesome sunrise, well Danny played Trance. Than we had to break down after this one kid, who was suppose to transport equipment for us, left both of us stranded on that goddamn beach.
In Afghanistan Alien was the only person in A2/5 Infantrey that I could really relate to. We were both the outcasts in our platoons. Everybody in mine thinks I'm a little over the edge(not much more than everyone else, I just showed it), well Alien just thinks on a different level than everybody in his platoon. For example I understand what was happening over there, Alien was just able explained it to me on a different level. Most importantly Alien was probably the only person who could calm me down when I get real sick of shit. I would be dead if it was not for him. I love that kid so much that I would take a bullet for Alien, and I know he would do the same for me.
Despite the fact that we had our fare share of combat, Alien was vary respectful to the human life. He made an uneasy friendship with some of the Afghani militia force(a rage tag group of “police officers” who lived next to our base). He would find ways to communicate with them that were beyond language. He once bought a camel off of one for a little over $20 dollars, but the first Sargent wouldn't let him keep it. In spite of this the AMF were some real skeachey fuckers. They kept calling us there friends, but they had to have helped out some attacks on our base. They would also strangle out of the patrols, leaving us having to find them, slowing us down. That they did with us and walk with flashlights and yell at each other on patrol(which is like saying “I'm with the Americans were over here come ambush us”). All of this is enough to make you lose it.
Yes there have been people who completely lost it out there. This one kid Capella totally lost it one day, he took his weapon and threatened to kill a bunch of people in Alien's platoon. Than there was the time that First Sargent made us rake the mud around our base. Not to mention that everybody was pissed off because we were away from home in a place where you are not needed. This gets to you the most being stuck in the middle of no ware with people that don't understand you. The isolation is what got to Alien the most, by the time that we were to go home Alien was a complete mess. He lost touch with his ability to connect with people, and relay be himself. When we first got home he did things that were not like him, like get real drunk and do stupid shit. Stupid shit like getting into fights and smashing bottles and scare the shit out of our friends. There got to a point where the army Doctors just put him on some fucked up drugs and pretend like everything was just fine. He didn't need that shit, he needed to go home. He needed to be a part of a community again.
Finley we were given leave, after being home for a month. By this time coming home was rely taking it's toll on Alien. The night before we went home I had a long talk with Alien. He told me that he was scared of himself, and that he didn't know what he could do about it. Iv Out of all the shit that we been threw I have never seen anyone so afraid to look at himself. Coming home and facing reality was far more dangerous than all the bullets and bombs that we dodged for the past year. I reassured him that everything was going to be fine. I told him that we just needed to go home and be away from the army for a while. I promised him that we would make it threw this.
The First time I saw Alien after I got back from leave I could tell that he was doing a lot better. He started re-connecting to all our old friends. He told me that he wanted to move to California, and go to school. He started to set goals for himself, and making plains. We even got our shit together one day and threw another killer party. We were starting to remember how to have a good time, and connect with people. The times were starting to get good again. Alien stopped taking that Prozac shit, that the cheap army Doctors gave him. He kept talking about this Burning Man thing out in the desert. I could tell that he could face himself again.
We got out of the army a month latter. I went to home to Pennsylvania and Alien went to California. We still keep in touch. He's living it up in school, and loving every day of it. I can tell he is happy when he talks to me about his new found love for fire, and his English teacher. Apparently he found something out in the desert, and has been living with it ever since. I think it was a sense of peace, and the power to deal with people. Whatever it was he keeps trying to explain it to me. I guess I can relate to it in my own way. There are some things that you cannot explain with words, or pictures. We can try to teach it in a classroom, but nobody will rely know until they experience it for themselves. Nobody can judge us for the things that happened out there. They have no Right, just as we cannot judge them for not knowing. Thats something that Alien taught me.