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<\/div>\nSgt. 1st Class Eric Lloyd, a paratrooper with 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, grades the sit-up event of an Army Physical Fitness Test during early-morning rain at Fort Bragg, N.C., Jan. 19. Just a week earlier, Fort Bragg was gripped in ice.<\/p>\n
U.S. Army \/ Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Spc. Michael Scarsbrook, an infantryman with Company C, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, Task Force Ironman, from Iowa Falls, Iowa, looks down on a spot in Tupac, Afghanistan, Jan. 21, where his unit had been attacked by an improvised explosive device two days earlier. TF Ironman is a part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, Task Force Red Bulls.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Matson<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A 120mm mortar round flies out of the tube as Staff Sgt. Ramey J. Brown (left), a section sergeant from Marshville, N.C., Spc. Tyler L. Dillon (center), a team leader from Williamstown, W. Va., 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\u2019s Kunar province on Jan. 26, 2011<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Staff Sgt. Mark Burrell<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Soldiers in four-wheel vehicles wait as bundles of fuel are air delivered by a C-17 Globemaster III to Forward Operating Base Waza K’wah in Paktika province, Afghanistan, Jan. 30. The Soldiers are assigned to the 101st Airborne Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team.<\/p>\n U.S. Army<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Spc. Nicholas Francioso, an armored crewman assigned to 2nd Squad, 3rd Platoon, Company C, 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, kneels atop a cliff overlooking the Arghandab River Valley to provide security for his squad as they climb up the cliff from the valley below, Jan. 31. Francioso, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, conducts a foot patrol with his squad to search orchards throughout the district and interact with the local population.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Spc. Breanne Pye<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Pfc. Kevin March kneels atop a cliff overlooking the Arghandab River Valley to provide security for his squad as they climb up the cliff from the valley below in the Arghandab district, Afghanistan, Jan. 31. March is assigned to the 4th Infantry Division’s Company C, 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Spc. Breanne Pye<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Sgt. 1st Class Manuel Delarosa, Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul, Shinkai Detachment, finds a pair of shoes for a young girl while helping Afghan National Security Forces distribute winter supplies in Safidar Village, Afghanistan, Feb. 1.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n An Iraqi soldier’s goggles catch the reflection of Staff Sgt. Kevin Murphy, left, as he instructs Iraqi soldiers of 2nd Battalion, 11th Brigade, 3rd Iraqi Army Division, on individual movement techniques at the Ghuzlani Warrior Training Center, Feb 2. Murphy and fellow Soldiers of 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Advise and Assist Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, run Iraqi battalions through 25-day training cycles at the GWTC to teach them collective unit-level warfighting drills in order to bolster information assurance independence on national defense operations.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sgt. Shawn Miller<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Soldiers from Company A, 101st Division Special Troop Battalion, air assault into a village inside Jowlzak Valley, Parwan province, Afghanistan. Afghan National Police searched the village while Soldiers provided security and conducted key-leader engagements.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Spc. Scott Davis<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Sgt. David Smitt provides overwatch security during an air assault patrol with U.S. Soldiers and British gunners in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, Feb. 10. Smitt is assigned to 101st Combat Aviation Brigade and the gunners are assigned to the Royal Air Force Regiment’s 15th Squadron.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sadie Bleistein<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, currently deployed to the U.S. Army’s National Training Center in Fort Irwin, Calif., fire the M777 A2 Howitzer, Feb. 19<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Capt. Angela Chipman<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n First Lt. Michael Keyser, with A Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, crawls through an obstacle during the Pre-Ranger Assessment Course at Fort Irwin, Calif., March 1.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sgt. Giancarlo Casem<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A Soldier with the 10th Special Forces Group and his military working dog jump off the ramp of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment during water training over the Gulf of Mexico as part of exercise Emerald Warrior 2011, March 1. Emerald Warrior is an annual two-week joint\/combined tactical exercise sponsored by U.S. Special Operations Command designed to leverage lessons learned from operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom to provide trained and ready forces to combatant commanders.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Sgt. Carl Goss, Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul, secures an area near a bridge construction site in Zabul province, Afghanistan, while members from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers inspect the progress and quality of several bridges being built in the area. The PRT consists of members from the Air Force, Army and civilian agencies. Goss is deployed from the 181st Infantry Regiment, Massachusetts Army National Guard.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Master Sgt. Adrian Cadiz<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n U.S. Soldiers assigned to 442nd Military Police Company, New York National Guard and 4th Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, practice evacuating a casualty in Camp Ramadi, Iraq, March 15.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Spc. Gary Silverman<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A Soldier with the 101st Airborne Division returns fire with a M249 light machine gun during combat operations in the valley of Barawala Kalet, Kunar province, Afghanistan, March 29.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Pfc. Cameron Boyd<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Pfc. Ben Bradley (left), a Bulldog Troop, Red Platoon scout of 7th Squadron, 10th Cavalry Regiment, ducks away from small-arms fire, as fellow scout Sgt. Jeff Sheppard, launches a grenade at the enemy\u2019s position, during a combat engagement in northern Bala Murghab Valley, Baghdis province, Afghanistan, April 4. Bradley, Sheppard, U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wallace, U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Lee and his military working dog ‘Valdo’ were all wounded by a rocket-propelled grenade blast in the engagement. All service members suffered minor wounds and Valdo was critical, but survived the attack.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Kevin Wallace<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Four teams of Best Sapper competitors are loaded onto a Black Hawk helicopter and flown to the helocast drop zone during phase two of the Best Sapper Competition at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. The Best Sapper competition gives engineers throughout the Army the opportunity to compete in a grueling six-phase, three-day competition to determine the best engineers in the Army.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Benjamin Faske<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Staff Sgt. Hector Hoyas, an Aerial Delivery Field Service Department instructor from Fort Lee, Va., and Senior Airman Matthew Phillips, an airborne pavements and equipment operator, from the 820th Red Horse Squadron, turn away from the prop wash as a Nevada Army National Guard 1st General Support Aviation Battalion, 189th Aviation Regiment CH-47 Chinook helicopter takes off with a Humvee sling-load, April 15.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Michael R. Holzworth<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Spc. Benjamin Sukys and Spc. Robert Thorp, both assigned to Company B, 1st Battalion, 151st Infantry Regiment, Indiana National Guard, work through the night filling sandbags at the Indiana Department of Transportation branch in Vincennes, Ind., April 26. The Soldiers alternated working six-hour shifts around the clock to fill an order of 100,000 sandbags during the National Guard\u2019s response to flooding in the area.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sgt. John Crosby<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Sgt. 1st Class Kyle Silvernale, platoon sergeant of the Company C, 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment (Airborne), yells out commands to his troops during air assault training where UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters took them into a section of Alaska\u2019s Chugach Range to engage an opposing force, May 12.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Christopher Gross<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team pull security as their UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter leaves during air assault training at Fort Bragg, N.C., May 31. Black Hawks can typically transport 8-10 fully-loaded infantrymen.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A Soldier assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, walks through a valley during a patrol through Malajat, Afghanistan, June 4.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sgt. Canaan Radcliffe<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Capt. Derrick W. Dew, 202nd Military Police Company commander, currently assigned to 1st Brigade Combat Team, Task Force „Raider,” 4th Infantry Division, plays with young residents of the „Old Corps” area of Kandahar City during a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new soccer field there, June 8. The new field was one of many projects headed by TF Raider and their Afghan National Security Forces partners in their joint-reconstruction efforts to improve quality of life, safety and security for residents of Kandahar City.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sgt. Breanne Pye<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Soldiers assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division wait in a C-17 Globemaster to perform personnel airdrops during a Joint Operations Access Exercise at Fort Bragg, N.C., June 25. JOAX is a two-week exercise to prepare Air Force and Army to respond to worldwide crisis and contingencies.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Asha Harris<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Afghan commandos with the Afghan National Army\u2019s 3rd Commando Kandak shield their faces from flying debris after loading a wounded commando on a U.S. Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during a village clearing operation in Zhari district, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, July 6. The commandos, supported by service members with Special Operations Task Force \u2013 South, found and destroyed several caches consisting of homemade explosives and improvised explosive device-making materials, as well as a weapons cache.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sgt. Daniel P. Shook<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Paratroopers of the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 501st Infantry Regiment, conduct a parachute training and water landing exercise at Big Lake, Alaska, July 22. Several hundred troopers from the battalion, who trained extensively in preparation for the maneuver, jumped from UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, staged at a nearby airfield, into Big Lake and were brought safely to shore by rubber boats.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Justin Connaher<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Staff Sgt. Travis Surber, a native of Franklin County, Va., and a paratrooper with the 173rd Brigade Combat Team’s Battle Company of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, parachutes out of a C-130 Hercules Transport Aircraft and into the Ukraine sky.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Staff Sgt. Travis Surber<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A grader for the proposed new Army Physical Readiness Test ensures that a paratrooper completes the new 60-second pushup event correctly at Fort Bragg, N.C., Aug. 10. Unlike the two-minute pushup event in the current Army Physical Fitness Test, Soldiers can no longer pause, choose their own hand position or „sag in the middle.”<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A Soldier from 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, unloads his Stryker armored fighting vehicle after a long day of conducting fire missions at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, Calif.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Spc. Ryan Hallock <\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Members of 3rd Platoon, Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade, work at dislodging their M-777 155mm howitzer from the three-foot deep hole it dug its spades into after firing several rocket-assisted projectiles, Sept. 4. The huge weapon weighs 9,000 pounds and can launch projectiles over 30 kilometers.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Spc. Ken Scar<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Members of Company C, 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, Task Force 228, 172nd Infantry Brigade, begin their descend from the summit of „Big Nasty,” Sept. 7. The unit was on a joint mission with the Afghan National Army and the Afghan Border Patrol in the mountains near the Pakistan border.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Spc. Ken Scar<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division descend to the ground after jumping out of a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft during a Joint Operations Access Exercise over Sicily Drop Zone on Fort Bragg, N.C., Sept. 8. JOAX is a one-week exercise to prepare the Air Force and the Army to respond to worldwide crises and contingencies.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Quinton Russ<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team „Devil Brigade” exit a C-17 Globemaster III during an airborne training exercise at Fort Bragg, N.C., Sept. 10. The yellow cord, called a static line, deploys the paratroopers’ parachutes automatically, which is important since the paratroopers are jumping at 800 feet above ground level.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A Soldier from the 2nd Detachment, Company C, 147th Aviation Battalion, oversees the liftoff of a UH-60 Black Hawk flown during medical evacuation training in harsh weather conditions at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Butlerville, Ind.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sgt. 1st Class Thomas Benoit<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Cpl. Jose Pacheco, Headquarters and Headquarters Platoon, Company D, 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, practices rappelling techniques during the basic-mobility portion of Mountain Exercise 08-11 at the Marine Corps\u2019 Mountain Warfare Training Center in Northern California\u2019s Toiyabe National Forest, Sept. 22. Pacheco and his fellow Soldiers will use the technical skills they learn during basic-mobility to gain a tactical advantage over their adversaries during the subsequent force-on-force exercise.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sgt. Gene Arnold<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Cpl. Kristine Tejada, from Oakland, Calif., a truck commander for 1st Platoon, Higher Headquarters Battery, Task Force 2-82 Field Artillery Regiment, provides security at the ancient Ziggurat of Ur, Iraq, Sept. 24. TF 2-82 is one of the last units that provides security for U.S. Forces visiting the site, a mission that is dwindeling with the reposture of U.S. Forces in Iraq.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Staff Sgt. Jeremy J. Fowler<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Pfc. Richard Mills, Security Forces rifleman attached to Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul, secures his eyes and ears as Afghan National Army Soldiers conduct a controlled detonation of a Taliban-planted Improvised Explosive Device found on a road in Shinkai, Afghanistan, Oct. 8. ANA soldiers detonated the IEDs after being trained by PRT Zabul on proper controlled detonation techniques. Mills is deployed from Company C, 182nd Infantry Division, Massachusetts National Guard.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Grovert Fuentes-Contreras<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Soldiers of Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul, Agribusiness Development Team, and 489th Civil Affairs Battalion patrol to a village in the district of Mizan, Afghanistan, Oct. 17. PRT Zabul’s mission is to conduct civil-military operations in Zabul province to extend the reach and legitimacy of the government of Afghanistan.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Senior Airman Grovert Fuentes-Contreras<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Capt. Marie Hough, representing the U.S. Army Europe, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, fires the M9 Beretta during the pistol qualification portion of the U.S. Army Europe Best Junior Officer Competition, Nov. 16. Company-grade officers from units throughout the U.S. Army in Europe compete in the first annual Best Junior Officer Competition at the Joint Multinational Training Center, which is the U.S. Army’s only forward-deployed training command. The grueling three-day event challenged USAREUR’s best officers on warrior tasks and drills, decision making, problem solving and leadership skills.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Master Sgt. Robert Hyatt<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A civilian instructor coaches two paratroopers with the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, on how to use a Carl Gustav 84 mm recoilless rifle during a certification class at Fort Bragg, N.C., Dec. 6.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Spc. Aaron King, a flight medic with Company C, 3rd Brigade, 82nd General Support Aviation Battalion, is hoisted back into a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter during hoist training at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, Dec. 15.<\/p>\n U.S. Army \/ Staff Sgt. Donna Davis<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n