America’s best and brightest.

US soldiers from the 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team prepare to leave a patrol base on the outskirts of Kandalay village in southern Kandahar province as fresh troops arrive on August 7, 2011. There are currently around 140,000 foreign soldiers in Afghanistan, with about 100,000 of them from the US. All international combat troops are due to leave by the end of 2014, but intense violence in recent months has raised questions over the prospects for Afghan forces as they take over. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

US soldiers from the 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team backed by armored vehicles patrol in Kandalay village in southern Afghanistan former stronghold of Taliban insurgents on August 7, 2011. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

US soldiers from the 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team prepare to pull out from a patrol base on the outskirts of Kandalay village in southern Kandahar province on August 7, 2011. There are currently around 140,000 foreign soldiers in Afghanistan, with about 100,000 of them from the US. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

Fresh US troops from the 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team arrive at a patrol base on the outskirts of Kandalay village in southern Kandahar province on August 7, 2011. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

Fresh US troops from the 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team arrive with supplies at a patrol base on the outskirts of Kandalay village in southern Kandahar province on August 7, 2011. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

US soldiers from the 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3d Brigade Combat Team keep guard while troops seal of a canal running thru Highway 1 in the outskirts of Kandalay village in Kandahar province on August 6, 2011 as part of a mission to secure southern Afghanistan’s strategic roadway against Taliban insurgents emplacements of improvised explosive devices (IED). According to Captain Max Ferguson commander of Charlie Co., a Taliban was killed while trying to emplace IED some 800 meters from the area where soldiers were sealing off the road culvert with iron grids and barb wires. AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD (Photo credit should read ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images)

US soldiers from the 1st Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3rd Brigade Combat Team prepare to leave a patrol base on the outskirts of Kandalay village in southern Kandahar province as fresh troops arrive on August 7, 2011. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

US soldier from the 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3d Brigade Combat Team greets Afghan villagers as troops seal a canal running thru Highway 1 in the outskirts of Kandalay village in Kandahar province on August 6, 2011 as part of a mission to secure southern Afghanistan’s strategic roadway against Taliban insurgents emplacements of improvised explosive devices (IED). According to Captain Max Ferguson commander of Charlie Co., a Taliban was killed while trying to emplace IED some 800 meters from the area where soldiers were sealing off the road culvert with iron grids and barb wires. (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

US soldiers from the 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3d Brigade Combat Team stop Afghan villagers for a security check as others while troops seal off a canal running through Highway 1 on the outskirts of Kandalay village in Kandahar province on August 6, 2011 as part of a mission to secure southern Afghanistan’s strategic roadway against Taliban insurgents emplacements of improvised explosive devices (IED). (AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)

US soldiers from the 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 2-87 Infantry, 3d Brigade Combat Team stops an Afghan villager during a check for land mines on a canal running through Highway 1 on the outskirts of Kandalay village in Kandahar province on August 6, 2011 as part of a mission to secure southern Afghanistan’s strategic roadway against Taliban insurgents emplacements of improvised explosive devices (IED).(AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD)