Helmand Fire Base

  • Reuters
  • Reuters
  • AP
  • AP
  • AP
  • AP
  • Matt Sanchez
  • Matt Sanchez
  • Sgt. Christopher Rye, USMC
  • Matt Sanchez
  • Sgt. Christopher Rye, USMC
  • Matt Sanchez
  • June 28: U.S. Marine dog handler corporal Chad Perraut, with 2nd platoon, F company, 5th battalion, 10th Marines pours water for Body, a Marine bomb sniffer patrol dog, during a patrol in southern Afghanistan. After five years coping with the most dangerous province in Iraq, the U.S. Marines have been given their next assignment: Helmund, the most dangerous province in Afghanistan.
  • June 28: A U.S. Marine from 2nd platoon, F company, 5th batalion, 10th Marines, meets an Afghan villager during a patrol in southern Afghanistan. After five years coping with the most dangerous province in Iraq, the U.S. Marines have been given their next assignment: Helmund, the most dangerous province in Afghanistan.
  • July 7: A U.S. Marines from the 2nd MEB, 1st Battalion 5th Marines carries his weapon on his shoulders as they reach the end of a patrol in the Nawa district of Afghanistan's Helmand province.
  • July 7: U.S. Marines from the 2nd MEB, 1st Battalion 5th Marines reach the end of a patrol in the Nawa district of Afghanistan's Helmand province.
  • July 7: U.S. Marines from the 2nd MEB, 1st Battalion 5th Marines jump over a stream as they patrol in the Nawa district of Afghanistan's Helmand province.
  • July 7: U.S. Marines from the 2nd MEB, 1st Battalion 5th Marines detonate explosives to destroy a Taliban placed roadside bomb that the Marines discovered in a road in the Nawa district of Afghanistan's Helmand province.
  • Marines from the 3rd Battalion, 11th Marines leave Fiddler's Green, a fire base in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. Just beyond the wire outside the base they are most vulnerable to attack.
  • A Marine from the 3/11 controls the perimeter in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, along the border with Pakistan.
  • Corporal Tyler Ledbetter packs dirt into Hesco barriers to secure the perimeter of Fiddler's Green, a fire base housing 3rd the Battalion, 11th Marines. Fiddler's Green has taken consistent indirect fire. The simple but effective barrier protects against shrapnel.
  • "It's hard to believe a Marine could get abducted. There would probably be a lot of fighting and some machine gun fire involved," said a Marine at Fiddler's Green.
  • Staff Sergeant Lawrence Salcido briefs and accounts for his Marines before leaving the wire.
  • At night, security precautions are extraordinary. "Light discipline" is observed as Corporal Ryan Joseph Bernal, a native of Riverside, California, stands guard from a strategically placed observation post.