these pictures are all from the korengal valley in eastern afghanistan with the 173rd airborne brigade who are supposed to come home this month after a 15 month tour
Lt. Matt Piosa rests inside a bunker. The 173rd Airborne division Battle Company established the bunker after a difficult battle with insurgents to control the strategic high grounds near the Korengal Outpost.
Sgt. Tanner Stichter tends to a wounded Specialist Carl Vandenberge.
take shelter behind a tree trunk as they await the arrival of a medevac helicopter. The helicopter will airlift the body of Staff Sgt. Larry Rougle, who was killed in the insurgent ambush.
Specialist Carl Vandenberge, right, and Staff Sgt. Kevin Rice, left, are assisted as they walk to a medevac helicopter after being shot by insurgents in the ambush.
U.S. troops carry the body of Staff Sgt. Larry Rougle, who was killed when the insurgents ambushed their squad in the Korengal Valley.
A soldier sits alone in the dust of a medevac helicopter as it departs with the body of his comrade Staff Sgt. Rougle.
exhausted paratrooper rests during patrol in korengal