U.S. soldiers from 2nd Platoon, Alpha Company, 32nd Infantry Regiment fire against attacking Taliban forces from their position over the village of Bargematal, Nuristan.
An Afghan man sits in a car as U.S. soldiers of Alpha company 2-12 Infantry 4BCT-4ID Task Force Mountain Warrior search the boot at a checkpoint in Manugay village, at the Pech Valley in Kunar Province August 8.
A border patrol officer in Spin Boldak, southern Afghanistan, guards a post overlooking the Pakistani town of Chaman on Aug 10. The border is easily crossed by Taliban extremists in their battles with U.S. troops.
Lance Cpl. Seth Ramsey, of Springfield, Mo., keeps watch from a tower during a night shift at a combat outpost near the village of Now Zad in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan.
Petty Officer 2nd Class Courtney Lust, a U.S. Navy SARC, or Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman, with U.S. Marines Alpha Company-Task Force Raider, 2nd Recon Battalion, is seen before going on a night mission from a temporary staging area at a combat outpost, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on Oct. 12.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, works on his laptop onboard a C-130 aircraft after attending a meeting with regional Afghan commanders in Mazar-e-Sharif, north of Kabul, on Oct. 21.
U.S. Army soldiers in the 1/501st of the 25th Infantry Division shield their eyes from the powerful rotor wash of a Chinook cargo helicopter as they are picked up from a mission Oct. 15 in Paktika Province
An Afghan man steps out of his house as U.S. Marines search his village during the launch of Operation Germinate into the restive Bhuji Bhast Pass in Farah Province, southern Afghanistan. The Taliban has mined the pass with improvised incendary devices.
Spc. Matthew King of Lompoc, Calif., rubs his face in a ground bunker in Forward Operating Base Zerok in Afghanistan on Tuesday, Oct. 6. He has been without a shower since July 4, but that’s the least of his worries. Conditions are harsh for soldiers of the 3-509 U.S. Army's 25th Infantry Division and their Afghan Army counterparts who are based near the Pakistani border. Troops patrol the mountains on foot and face frequent attacks from militants.
During a firefight with the Taliban, Marine Lance Cpl. Jordan Christie, of Washington, Ind., sprints down an irrigation canal to launch a rocket on Sunday, Oct. 4. He’s with the 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 5th Marines in the Nawa district in southern Afghanistan. Extremists have attacked the platoon on patrol using assault rifles, machine guns, and snipers.
Soldiers from the U.S. Army's Alpha Battery, 425 Field Artillery, 3rd brigade of 10th Mountain Division based in Fort Drum, N.Y., fire 155 mm Howitzer in Cop Cherokee base in Kherwar district in Logar province.
Pfc. Joshua De Jonge of Smithfield, Va., keeps watch during a patrol mission on Tuesday, Sept. 13, in Zerok District, East Paktika province in Afghanistan.
U.S. Army Specialist Meredith Smith tries to get some sleep inside an armored vehicle during a convoy operation in Zerok District, East Paktika province in Afghanistan, Friday, Sept. 11.
U.S Army SPC Sam Garvin, 22, of Middleburg, Fla., displays his father's dogtag and a cross. Garvin is currently on his first deployment in Logar province. "The military is something that's been big in my family for a long time. We've done good things here. I'm proud I joined, makes me feel good and better as a person.”
Children greet an armored U.S. Army vehicle from Fort Richardson, Alaska, during a patrol in Khowst province, east of Kabul, on Sept. 5.
Army Sgt. Jeremiah Terrell and Sgt. Hyon Stiffler, from Fort Richardson, Alaska, are joined by Sgt. James Apgar as they wrestle in their gym at a base in Khowst province on Sept. 5.
Men walk past burned vehicles in the Pakistani town of Chaman along the Afghanistan border Aug. 31. Suspected Taliban militants set fire to 18 container trucks carrying supplies for western forces in Afghanistan.
Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard of Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, patrols on point through the bazaar in the village of Dahaneh, Aug. 14, in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. Less than an hour later Bernard's squad was ambushed by Taliban fighters waiting in a pomegranate grove. Bernard was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade and died.
A U.S. soldier shaves at his bunker in the village of Bargematal, Nuristan province, Aug. 23.
