Injuries are visible on the face of Spc. David Buzzard from Fayetteville, North Carolina, part of 1st platoon (Blacksheep) Creek Company. 2/4 Infantry. 4th Brigade Combat Team. 10th Mountain Division, deployed to Afghanistan's Tangi Valley. The photographer, Infantryman Chase Steely wrote: "This is my boy Buzzard. We were in an IED blast on Jan 31 and he took some shrapnel to the face. I wish we could say everyone came back with us that day, but we can't . We will never forget this day." #

In this aerial photo taken Friday, January 21, 2011, a section of the Helmand River Valley is seen from a medevac helicopter of the U.S. Army's Task Force Shadow "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment near Marjah in the volatile Helmand Province, Southern Afghanistan. #

Pakistanis gather by burning oil tankers after gunmen attacked a terminal in Dera Murad Jamali southwest Pakistan, early Saturday, January 15, 2011. A government official says gunmen in Pakistan's southwest have set ablaze 14 tankers carrying fuel for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. A driver also was wounded during the Saturday attack. #

In this aerial photo taken Thursday, January 27,2011, U.S. Marines drive in a MRAP's as seen from a medevac helicopter of the U.S. Army's Task Force Shadow "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment near Marjah , Afghanistan. #

Abdul Samat Durrani, the District Govenor of eastern Kandahar Province's Maruf District, an area with a population estimated at 50,000 Afghan citizens, is photographed on January 26, 2011. #

Corporal Christopher Pereda, 21, a heavy equipment operator from Yuma, Arizona, sits next to his vehicle after driving into a mud patch during a vehicle convoy in Garmser, January 24, 2011. Marines with 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division (Forward), were faced with soft and muddy terrain that immobilized many of their vehicles. Marines were forced to dig out their vehicles with shovels to get them free. #

In this aerial photo taken Thursday, January 20, 2011, Afghans work in a traditional brick factory as seen from a medevac helicopter of the U.S. Army's Task Force Shadow "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment near Marjah, Afghanistan. #

Afghan policemen stand around the lifeless body of a Taliban militant, who was killed during a clash with Afghan police in Laghman east of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, January 3, 2011. A group of Taliban militants attacked a police check post stationed on the Laghman to Nangarhar highway on Sunday night, and one of the militants was killed in the attack, Afghan officials said. #

Afghan children relax on a hilltop as they observe U.S. servicemembers, with Special Operations Task Force - South, conduct training January 26, 2011, in Khakrez District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan. #

Lt. Col. Charlie Youngblood, 340th Expeditionary Air Refueling Squadron pilot, flies a KC-135 Stratotanker during an air refueling mission over Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. #

Alpine soldiers carry the coffin of Corp. Maj. Matteo Miotto, killed by sniper fire in Gulistan district in western Farah province, Afghanistan, on Friday December 31, 2010, upon the arrival at Ciampino military airport, near Rome, Italy on Sunday, January 2, 2011. #

An armoured vehicle of US Marines from 1st Battalion 8th, Bravo is seen in front of The Milky Way Galaxy during an operation not far from Shir Chazay in Musa Qala district of Helmand province on January 23, 2011. #

An Afghan boy watches as US Marine from 1st Battalion, 8th Marines walk during a foot patrol outside Musa Qala District Center base on January 28, 2011 in Musa Qala. #

Robert Wayne Pharris, second from right, son of U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Robert Pharris, weeps as he holds the American flag handed to him during the burial ceremony for Sgt. 1st Class Pharris, Friday, January 28, 2011, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Viginia. Pharris died January 5 of wounds suffered at Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan when insurgents attacked their unit using an improvised explosive device. Other are Sgt. Ist Class Pharris' widow, from left, Pamala Pharris, son Lance Cpl Ben Pharris, father Alvin Pharris, and son Daniel Pharris. #

First Lt. Benjamin Amsler, from Titusville, Pennsylvania of 2nd Platoon Bravo Company 2-327 Infantry, drinks coffee as he works on a laptop at Badel Combat Out Post in Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan, bordering Pakistan, on Saturday, January 1, 2011. #

Firefighters try to extinguish a fire in a commercial market district January 24, 2011 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Estimates of the damage and cause of the fire were still unknown at the time of publication. #

In this aerial photo taken Friday, January 21,2011, a Muslim cemetery is seen from a medevac helicopter of the U.S. Army's Task Force Shadow "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment near Marjah, Southern Afghanistan. #

The combat boot of a wounded U.S. Marine sits next to him on a medevac helicopter from the United States Army's Task Force Shadow "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment after he was injured by an improvised explosive device near Marjah, Afghanistan on Thursday, January 27, 2011. #

Snow falls on Sgt. Abram Camacho from La Joya, Texas, part of 1st platoon (Blacksheep) Creek Company. 2/4 Infantry. 4th Brigade Combat Team. 10th Mountain Division, deployed to Afghanistan's Tangi Valley. #

A CH-47 Chinook comes in for a landing to pick up soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, following a mission to the Daymirdad District Center, Wardak province, Afghanistan, January 9, 2011. #

An injured Afghan boy lies on a stretcher as he is flown for care by the United States Army's Task Force Shadow "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment following the explosion of an insurgent placed improvised explosive device near Camp Dwyer in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Thursday, January 20, 2011. #

An Afghan shepherd directs his sheep through an opening in a mud wall as seen from a medevac helicopter of the U.S. Army's Task Force Shadow "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment on January 21,2011, near Marjah, Afghanistan. #

Kelly Hugo reaches out as a flag is presented to her during burial services for her son, Marine Corporal Sean A. Osterman, Tuesday, January 4, 2011, at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Osterman died December 16, 2010, from wounds received in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on December 14th. #

A NATO military re-supply convoy kicks up dust in the desert as seen on January 21, 2011 from a medevac helicopter of the U.S. Army's Task Force Shadow "Dust Off", Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment in Southern Afghanistan. #

U.S. Marines with Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment conduct a census patrol in Sangin, Afghanistan, January 10, 2011. The Marines conduct patrols to suppress enemy activity and gain the trust of the people. The battalion, assigned to Regimental Combat Team 2, conducted counterinsurgency operations in partnership with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). #

Bundles of fuel are air delivered recently to Forward Operating Base Waza K'wah in the Paktika province of Afghanistan. The fuel was part of a C-17 Globemaster III air delivery to help sustain members of Task Force Currahee, 4th Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, whose only means of re-supply is through air delivery. #

A Canadian national from the 1st section "Les Aigles " (the eagles) of the 2nd REG (Régiment étranger du génie), serving as a soldier with the French Foreign Legion, at Forward Operating Base Tagab-Kutschbach near Tagab in Kapisa Province on January 24, 2011. The French Foreign Legion, a military unit established in 1831, was created for foreign nationals of any nationlity wishing to serve in the French armed forces. #

A 120mm mortar round flies out of the tube as U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Ramey J. Brown (left), a section sergeant from Marshville, North Carolina, Spc. Tyler L. Dillon (center), a team leader from Williamstown, West Virginia, and Pvt. Gabriel C. Fields (right), from Fort Worth, Texas, all mortarmen assigned to Troop C, 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment, Task Force Bandits, take cover while at Observation Post Mustang in eastern Afghanistan's Kunar Province on January 26. "It gets pretty intense sometimes when firing, especially if a firefight is going on," said Dillon. #

U.S. Army Sgt. Robert Smith, 2-502, 101st Airborne Division looks into a pit of unexpolded ordinances turned in during the Cash for Work Program at Stronghold Dog, Afghanistan, January 29, 2011. The program provides partnership with the local community by providing income for day labor and the turning in of unexploded ordinances. #

An Afghan man points to the holes caused by a bomb explosion outside a butcher shop in Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, January 3, 2011. A police official in the western Afghan province of Herat says a bomb planted outside a butcher shop had killed one civilian. #

Brady Rusk, 12, hugs Eli at a retirement and adoption ceremony at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. The bomb-sniffing Labrador retriever was assigned to Brady's older brother, Marine Pfc. Colton Rusk, 20, who was killed in action in Afghanistan by Taliban sniper fire December 5. The Department of Defense granted the Rusk's permission to adopt Eli and allow him to join their family. #