On Tuesday, October 22, 2002 at 00:01 hours, a team of the world's most respected civilian and military photographers stood poised at 125 locations around the globe to launch an unprecedented mission: producing A Day in the Life of the United States Armed Forces—a portrait in indelible images and eloquent words of the men and women who wear the military uniforms of our country and stand ready to defend our freedoms.

For the next twenty-four hours, this team of prize-winning photojournalists, many combat veterans themselves—with the full cooperation of the United States Department of Defense—documented the lives of elite units and freshly minted recruits; of cadets, generals, chaplains, medics, and MPs; of our personnel at desolate outposts and on strategic bases. They recorded life in the cockpit of a fighter plane, at the computer terminal of a war room, in a field hospital, training for special ops, patrolling borders, jungles, mountains, and harbors; and fighting terrorism.

They captured the routine and heroic operations that safeguard democracy around the world, around the clock. They visited the men and women of the U.S. Armed Services at home with their families in small towns, inner cities, suburbs, and on farms across the country. They saw, in the uniforms of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, men and women who could be their sons, daughters, spouses, neighbors and friends.

The resulting images remind us of what a concerted expense of valor it takes—on a single day—to defend our values.