My Tour: Sgt. Kenneth Scar in Afghanistan
One man’s view of the conflict zone.
In the summer of 2011, the 7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment out of Ft. Hood, Texas began a 12-month tour in Afghanistan. As members of a public affairs unit, the soldiers of 7th MPAD were tasked with a wide range of responsibilities, from acting as liaisons between the military and civilian journalists to assisting in crisis relief. But their primary mission was to document the war. “If we could get a soldier’s picture in Stars and Stripes, or in a hometown paper, it would raise the morale of that soldier’s entire unit,” says Sgt. Kenneth Scar, who left a career painting theater sets on Broadway to join the Army, at age 40. “That was the best part of the job.” Scar spent the duration of his tour traversing the high altitude landscape of eastern Afghanistan, photographing the conflict as it played out in the mountainside villages and river valleys of the Hindu Kush. Together, his photographs offer a breathtaking panorama of one of the most notorious battlefields of the Global War on Terror: “RC East.” This is his story.
If you’ve served in a conflict zone and want to contribute to Maxim’s “My Tour” series, drop us an email.
Photos by Sgt. Kenneth Scar
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