U.S. Army Sgt. Eric Rothenberger, a team leader assigned to 3rd Platoon, Alpha Battery, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, checks his sights while pulling security at an alleyway in the village of Kunday July 7, 2012.

Spc. Rodney Gauthier, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, provides overwatch security while the Afghan National Army conducts a shura with the people in Pirkowti Valley with the Paktika Province, July 1. U.S. Army Courtesy Photo.

U.S. Army Spc. John Yifith, attached to 3rd Platoon, Alpha Battery, 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, takes a knee while conducting a security patrol outside of Forward Operating Base Salerno July 7, 2012.

U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Nicholas Prieto, a platoon leader with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team, works with forward observer, Spc. Jonathan Myers, to call in air support during a firefight with insurgents, June 30, 2012, Ghazni Province, Afghanistan.

Afghan and coalition soldiers search for illegal weapons during a security operation that resulted in the arrest of a Taliban leader in Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand province. The Taliban leader commanded an insurgent cell that conducted multiple attacks against Afghan forces in Nahr-e Saraj and Nad ‘Ali districts. Photo by Sgt. Sean K. Harp, U.S. Army. (July 7, 2012)

Army Specialist Harley Young, a paratrooper with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne, greets a child while on patrol in Ghazni Province. (July 7, 2012)

In Kunar’s volatile Pech Valley, a The U.S. Army soldier from the 4th Infantry Division runs toward wounded ANA soldiers after throwing yellow smoke for cover from incoming Taliban artillery. (June 26, 2012)

United States Air Force Senior Airman Robin Lu, maintainer assigned to the 33rd Expeditionary Helicopter Maintenance Unit, marshals a U.S. Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter prior to take-off at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. Lu serves on a team of helicopter maintainers who enable Bagram’s Combat Search and Rescue capability in support of NATO and Afghan security forces. (U.S. Air Force photo/Capt. Raymond Geoffroy)