See Raw Footage of Oregon Soldiers From the War in Afghanistan

See what a day is like for an Army infantry soldier who has his "boots on the ground" in an Afghan war zone.

Photos and video footage by Tim King

(SALEM) - As I covered the war in Afghanistan during the winter of 2006/07 I knew I would want to do more with the footage than just the reports I was sending back to Salem-News.com and Oregon's KPTV FOX-12.

I was disappointed that both CNN and the FOX News Channel expressed only minor interest and in the end, aired none of the material.

FOX-12 ran 24 reports that I sent from Afghanistan and two documentaries have aired in recent weeks since my return to the states. One program featured only my work and the other featured a number of reports from other members of the FOX-12 News team and they did a nice job with both programs.

I have been inclined to post sections of raw footage but because it is a war and the language and environment isn't exactly suitable for all audiences, I have hesitated. But I knew I would develop a way because the footage is fairly amazing; you will see what Afghanistan is like up close and personal.

Because Salem-News.com is family friendly in terms of language and content, I decided to post the footage on myspace.com and the footage is already building a new flow of visitors to our site.

Tim in Afghanistan

The first batch of footage is available to watch in five-minute segments from beginning to end. This is unedited footage from an infantry security patrol "outside the wire" in Kabul, Afghanistan near Camp Phoenix. The soldiers are mostly Oregon National Guard and it is a rare and unusual chance to witness a military operation in Afghanistan from beginning to end.

My favorite part of the footage is the children of Afghanistan, and you will see hundreds of them. Most are pictures of people having some degree of success in their lives, but other images aren't. While I was in country I saw babies with no shoes on in freezing snow, I met people whose families were murdered, I saw poverty so bad that Americans stationed there call it "fourth world."

I witnessed a nation ravaged by thirty years of war where one out of five kids won't make it to age five.

A place where men value their weapons more highly than their women.

See what a day is like for an Army infantry soldier who has his "boots on the ground" in an Afghan war zone.

To see the videos, visit: myspace.com/timsalemnews