Photo by Maki Galimberti

The Thousand Yard Stare

This is 27-year-old Italian Corporal Antonio Metruccio of the 3rd Eagle Company, 66th Regiment aircraft Trieste.

Corporal Metruccio was asked to pose for the camera by a photographer moments after a 72-hour long continuous (three straight days) firefight in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan. In that fleeting moment, he couldn’t muster even a faint smile after a heavy encounter with the enemy, but rather he could only show a very haunting Thousand Yard Stare, which characterizes shell shock.

Bala Murghab is located in Badghis Province of northwestern Afghanistan, near the border of Turkmenistan where gun and drug smuggling in addition to Taliban activities are known to take place.

The Thousand Yard Stare is an acute stress reaction characterized by a limp, blank, unfocused gaze of a battle-weary soldier who has survived some terrible fighting. However, it can also occur to persons who have undergone other types of trauma.

By the looks of it, Corporal Metruccio had seen death at close range determined to claim his life and the life of his comrades. His Thousand Yard Stare shows death is real.