This photo captured an intimate and introspective moment in the lives of three American soldiers. Just as the rising sun began to creep through a window spilling light into the dirty, smoke-filled sleeping quarters of an Iraqi police station in Buhriz, Iraq, U.S. Army Spec. Chris Jankowski, Spec. Joshua Philbeck and Staff Sgt. Lawree Washington began to discuss an event that transpired the previous day. One of the soldiers began to recount the story of how a member of their company had been killed just feet from where they now stood. Stacy Pearsall snapped this photo at the conclusion of the story as all three had instinctively bowed their heads in a sign of both sorrow and respect for their fallen comrade.

The town of Buhriz, which borders the city of Baqubah, the largest city in the Diyala Province, was the scene of a U.S. led campaign that lasted 10 months after the city and many surrounding towns had fallen completely under the control of Iraqi insurgents in late December of 2006. Iraqi security forces and other government facilities, like the police station pictured here, became frequent targets of the insurgents. One particularly brazen attack occurred in January 2007, the same time this picture was taken, when insurgents kidnapped the mayor of Baqubah and blew up his office. Several weeks later, the bodies of 14 captured policemen were found. 18 additional Iraqi soldiers and policemen were shown on television with a message that they would be executed. At least 25 other policemen were found dead in the month of March 2007 alone.

In the battles that ensued, almost all of the 300,000 citizens of Baqubah left the town all but deserted. 106 American lives were lost along with 300 members of the Iraqi security forces and over 1,000 insurgents. Stacy lived and worked in the area for several months, enduring not only the eruption of violence, but also what she described as “bleak living conditions at best” and “bitter winter cold”.

Photo by USAF Staff Sgt. Stacy L. Pearsall