You May Be Injured
By Robert Acosta and Nina Berman
Nina Berman traveled the country photographing and interviewing soldiers who had been injured in Iraq. Photos like Berman's don't show up in Army pamphlets.
One of the soldiers she met was Robert Acosta, who had his arm blown off when he went to buy sodas in Iraq. Since Robert's return home he has become an antiwar activist and travels the country speaking.
"I met one soldier who was living alone in a trailer, completely blind, without a leg, shrapnel wounds covering his body. He has no parents to take care of him and spends his days with young kids who ride around in circles on ATVs on a dead-end road in one of the poorest counties in the state. On the anniversary of his injury, he was found wandering at night through the woods in what local news reports said was an apparent suicide attempt. Do you think the army recruiting commercial that seduced this soldier into joining ever mentioned anything about blindness, amputation, or brain damage?"
About Robert Acosta and Nina Berman
Robert Acosta lost his hand and sustained other serious injuries while serving in Iraq. Since returning he has traveled the country, speaking out against the war.
Nina Berman is a documentary photographer and author of the book Purple Hearts: Back from Iraq, a series of portraits and interviews with American soldiers who were wounded in Iraq, including Robert. In 2005, she received a World Press Award and a grant from the Open Society Institute in honor of this work. She resides in New York City, where she also teaches at the International Center of Photography.