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Former Marine Miles Lagoze captured an unfiltered look at the war in Afghanistan during his time as his unit’s official combat photographer in 2011 and 2012, producing the critically acclaimed documentary Combat Obscura.
His new book Whistles From the Graveyard: My Time Behind the Camera on War, Rage, and Restless Youth in Afghanistan examines the longest war in U.S. history and how it impacted a generation of Americans when we eventually decided to exit.
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“There’s no graceful way to lose a war after 20 years,” Lagoze tells The New Abnormal’s Andy Levy. “There’s no graceful way to lose a war but I feel like the thing that most Americans were upset about was the optics and how it looked. Because no one gave a shit about the war for 20 years. It’s the longest war in American history and nobody cared about it until we pulled out.”
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He said despite losing the war, fighting it for so long has left a lasting impact on a large group of Americans.
“The whole aspect of being at war for 20 years has made such an impact on American society and American culture—what we wear, the guns, the flak jackets, the helmets. You look at January 6, these guys were totally tacked up. I knew guys who were at January 6 from my unit,” he says.
Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon and Stitcher.
