"The forgotten soldiers."
French soldiers wounded in Afghanistan
They went to a peace operation. They returned in medical evacuation aircraft. They are the faces behind a ballpark figure: The 500 wounded French forces in Afghanistan that the French army does not show. For several months I have shared the hopes and sorrows, the anxious moments and small moments of happiness that lie at the Percy hospital, the military pilgrimage to Lourdes but also at home.
Story realized in France for several months of investigation. The French army putting pressure on the families of soldiers, it was very difficult to convince these men and women to open up their door. The main story is that Kevin, 21, hit in the skull by an enemy bullet and the doctors wanted to "disconnect" him after several weeks of coma. Now awake, Kevin fights to walk again, with his family on his side. Families who, for all are essential in the struggle to return to a normal life.
Some fell under the bullets, bombs or IEDs, others were vitcimes of accidents. They all accept the suffering. They are soldiers, they know what they signed for, but their greatest pain is to give up their previous lives, their life of action. Their biggest fear: losing their honor by falling into oblivion.