Castner Brian - All the ways we kill and die: an elegy for a fallen comrade, and the hunt for his killer

Advance Praise for
All the Ways We Kill and Die

The search for the story behind an IED death leads to the history of the post-9/11 wars and the lives of the men and women who fight them. Castner does a beautiful job of putting together his puzzle, weaving all the seemingly disparate elements into one cohesive whole. [His] writing is evocative and engaging, completely absorbing from beginning to end. A must-read for military buffs and a should-read for anyone who has given even a cursory thought to the US efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Kirkus Reviews , starred review

In this book Brian Castner takes us through a kind of moral detective work, uncovering not only private griefs, but also the broader military and social context of our countrys response to such deaths. A brilliant, moving, and troubling portrait of modern American warfare.

Phil Klay, author of the National Book Award-winning Redeployment

Brian Castner has written an intimate, heartfelt, and rending portrait of the American family at war and at home; and hes done so in a totally surprising and captivating way, by making the journey as a detective, a soldier, a father, a husband, a citizen. How did my friend die, where did he go, where have I gone in the meantime, who did this to us? These are questions that Castner meditates on as he searchesacross thousands of miles and back through the yearsfor the moment when a total stranger decided to kill a man closest to him and his family. Deftly reported and elegiac in its language, this is a story every neighbor, every parent, every soldier, and every school civics class ought to consider required reading. All the Ways We Kill and Die has much to tell us about how to live.

Doug Stanton, author of the New York Times bestseller Horse Soldiers

Like the best of storytellers, Castner transports us into the world of the men and women who fight and die and grieve: a struggling widow, two amputees, the exhausted pilot, the contractor for hire, a talented female biometrics engineer, even the jihadist bomb makers. An extraordinary work of nonfiction that reads like a suspense novel.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, author of the New York Times bestseller Ashleys War

A powerful and gripping take on modern war. All the Ways We Kill and Die is a stirring inside look at the deadly dance between EOD and bomb makers on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. Written in crisp, unflinching prose, the book is one of the definitive accounts of our decades of war.

Kevin Maurer, author of Hunter Killer and No Easy Day

Provocative, riveting, and uncommonly insightful in addressing both sides of the story, Castner writes in the tradition of Orwell and Kapuciski. It is impossible to read his book and not be moved by the predicament of the shadow wars were mired in. Infused with the knowledge of an insider, this is a bravura performance.

Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, author of The Watch

ALSO BY BRIAN CASTNER

The Long Walk: A Story of War and the Life That Follows

Copyright 2016 by Brian Castner

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Arcade Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

First Edition

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Castner, Brian.

Title: All the ways we kill and die : an elegy for a fallen comrade and the hunt for his killer / Brian Castner.

Other titles: Elegy for a fallen comrade and the hunt for his killer Description: New York: Arcade Pub., [2016] | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015040029 | ISBN 9781628726541 (hardcover: alk. paper); ISBN 9781628726572 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Afghan War, 2001Personal narratives, American. | Schwartz, Matthew, 19772012. | United States. Air ForceOfficersBiography. | Improvised explosive devicesDetectionAfghanistan. | Ordnance disposal UnitsAfghanistan. | Castner, Brian. | Afghan War, 2001Campaigns.

Classification: LCC DS371.43.S39 C37 2016 | DDC 958.104/748dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015040029

Cover illustration: Shutterstock

Printed in the United States of America

To my brothers in arms, still at war,
for all the reasons contained herein

Remember, remember!

The fifth of November,

The Gunpowder treason and plot;

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!

Guy Fawkes and his companions

Did the scheme contrive,

To blow the King and Parliament

All up alive.

Threescore barrels, laid below,

To prove old Englands overthrow.

But, by Gods providence, him they catch,

With a dark lantern, lighting a match!

A stick and a stake

For King Jamess sake!

If you wont give me one,

Ill take two,

The better for me,

And the worse for you.

A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,

A pennorth of cheese to choke him,

A pint of beer to wash it down,

And a jolly good fire to burn him.

Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! Make the bells ring!

Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King!

English Folk Verse, c. 1870

C ONTENTS

A UTHORS N OTE

THE FIELDS OF WAR, INTELLIGENCE, and medicinethe primary topics of this bookare notoriously filled with dense jargon and acronyms. Every attempt is made in the course of the text to explain such terms as they arise, but to maintain the authenticity of the voices of the primary characters, unfamiliar terminology will inevitably appear. To assist the reader, a glossary and notes are provided at the back of this volume.

P ROLOGUE

IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, all praise be to Him who commands to fight and slay the pagans wherever ye find them, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem; and blessings for His Prophet, peace be upon him, the Messenger of the Holy Book, where we are enjoined to fight them until there is no more oppression and all submission is made to Allah alone; for in the words of our Sheikh, may Allah accept his martyrdom, all who are able must kill them in every country upon the earth until all Muslims are free.

But how shall it be done? God had not yet granted him the power to kill them all today, so whom should he choose? And how? Decades had taught him this: patience is the gift of zeal, persistence the true mark of fervor, and Allah ultimately rewards both.

His soft hand on the mujahid s shoulder, and the youth lowered the thin wire leads.

Be still, Khalid, he said. Not yet. Those are not the kuffar we will kill today.

The albuyah nasiffah lay in the road in the center of the village. Not a road, a pockmarked track. He had seen real roads, highways even, if the youths had not.