But Archer and his colleagues are not in southern Afghanistan. Though it has the look and feel of a proper army camp, this “base” is being erected inside Britain’s National Army Museum in the tony London neighborhood of Chelsea. It has been rebuilt by hand to give civilians an idea of what operations—and life—are like at Helmand’s Camp Bastion. “We wanted to give people a flavor of what we can produce,” says Archer, the engineer in charge of constructing the exhibition “Helmand: The Soldiers’ Story.”
The project was conceived in part out of the soldiers’ frustration that their efforts in Afghanistan are much less visible than those of their colleagues in Iraq. “All the attention in the press has been on Iraq,” says Spr. Sean Mckeowan, who drove supply trucks for the Army in Helmand and has been involved in constructing the exhibition. “People should really see what we are doing out there at the moment.” The show, which began construction in July and opened Aug. 3, will run for the next 18 months and will be continually updated by British soldiers stationed in Helmand. Indeed, the exhibition is curated mainly by active troops who have donated photographs, personal paraphernalia, oral histories and video clips. “We got free rein in what went into the exhibition,” says Maj. Alex Parks, who helped oversee its development. “It’s a warts-and-all show that gives a background and flavor of what life is really like out [there].”
Visitors are instantly assaulted with video images of airplanes striking the World Trade Center and crowds of dust-covered New Yorkers frantically running from the scene; it is a stark reminder of why U.S. and British troops first invaded Afghanistan in 2001. Quotes from military officers and politicians about the War on Terror are projected against a backdrop of historical photos detailing the British Army’s long and turbulent presence in Afghanistan. A reconstruction of a claustrophobic tent meant to sleep eight or 10 soldiers—complete with the smell of plastic sheeting and strewn with cigarette cartons, toiletries and letters home—creates a wholly realistic sense of life in the theater. Second Lt. Arianne Raistrick, who helped construct the living quarters and will be responsible for updating the exhibit when she is deployed to Helmand next March, says the show helps give the soldiers a voice. “When you come home from an operation, you can show your photographs and tell your family, ‘Yeah, it was mega’,” she says. “But really there is just no way to express what you have gone through because they have no perception of that reality.”
Heavy skirmishes notwithstanding, the exhibit makes clear that life in a war zone can be unbearably boring. Paraphernalia like homemade backgammon sets—with pieces made from shiny stones found on the ground—and photographs of soldiers conducting archery competitions and kicking footballs around with local children illustrate how mundane their days can be in the off hours. But there are chilling records of combat, too; one video clip shows a rocket being launched and then soldiers laughing audibly when a building is blown up. “Awesome,” says one. “No one is coming out of that alive, are they?” “Helmand: The Soldiers’ Story” is a raw, compelling and honest take on a war still going on.
