David Stanford 
Doonesbury.com’s The Sandbox 
Dispatches from Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan

An anthology of stories from American servicemembers in Iraq and Afghanistan from the military blog launched by the creator of Doonesbury.In 2006, Gary Trudeau launched The Sandbox, an online forum where service members in could share their stories with readers at home. In hundreds of compelling posts, soldiers wrote movingly of their day-to-day lives, of their mission, and of the drama that unfolds daily around them.A dog adopts a unit on patrol in Baghdad and guards its flank; a soldier chronicles an epic day of close-call encounters with IEDs; an Afghan translator talks earnestly with his American friend about love and theology; a dad far from home meditates on time and history in the desert night under ancient stars; a Chuck Norris action figure witnesses surreal moments of humor in the cramped cab of a Humvee. Doonesbury.com’s The Sandbox presents a rich outpouring of stories, from the hilarious to the thrilling to the heartbreaking, and helps us understand what so many of our countrymen go through on the frontlines.