Editor’s Note: Artist/Journalist Richard Johnson of Canada's National Post begins his third journey to Afghanistan this week, with regular reports to be featured in DART. This just in:

Ever wonder what an artist and journalist takes to war? It starts with a few pencils…

I have two rules when it comes to embedding with the military in a war zone: 1, I have to be entirely self-sufficient (the worst impression you can give soldiers is that you are needy or a liability); and 2, I have to be able physically to carry all my gear for a reasonable distance (soldiers have enough to worry about without some office jockey needing help to lift his bags).

The other day I sat in my basement surrounded by a mass of equipment, desperately trying to cut down the weight. It struck me I am packing a lot of necessary stuff; then it struck me people would not believe how much stuff I am trying to squeeze in and carry.

This week, I head back to Afghanistan to spend time with International Security Assistance Force Troops. I’ll be spending a little time in and around Kandahar City with the U.S. force that took over from the Canadians when they left last year. I’ll also be with the almost 1,000 Canadians who remain in country, training Afghan personnel. Above: all the gear packed up.

Editor’s Note: This is just the tip of an iceberg. See Richard’s article in the National Post.

Richard Johnson is the Graphics Editor at Canada’s national newspaper – the National Post. With a background in illustration and journalism, Johnson has taken his data visualization and visual reportage skills around the globe. As a filmmaker and photographer with the United Nations, Johnson documented rape victim recovery programs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, refugees in Zimbabwe, and IDPs in the Central African Republic and Kenya. As a foreign correspondent and war artist, Johnson has embedded with various armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and with peacekeepers in Africa. He uses his illustrations from the field as a device to make people read his first person narrative stories on day-to-day life on the front lines. Johnson is now in Afghanistan doing what he loves. His work was Selected for the forthcoming AI31. @newsillustrator