Politics & Government
LCpl John Westwood, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, negotiates the narrow ledge of a guard tower after putting the finishing touches on the U.S. and Afghanistan flags he erected at the main gate of FOB Hassanabad which Golf Company of the 2/2 calls home in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, December 1, 2009. He said after erecting the flag, "I was putting up the American flag and the Afghan flag and I felt all the honor in the world to be able to do something like that- to put up our flag in a foreign country I think was a great deal. When I was finished putting those flags up... the words couldn't... can't express the way it made me feel." (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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LCpl John Westwood, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, negotiates the narrow ledge of a guard tower after putting the finishing touches on the U.S. and Afghanistan flags he erected at the main gate of FOB Hassanabad which Golf Company of the 2/2 calls home in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, December 1, 2009. He said after erecting the flag, "I was putting up the American flag and the Afghan flag and I felt all the honor in the world to be able to do something like that- to put up our flag in a foreign country I think was a great deal. When I was finished putting those flags up... the words couldn't... can't express the way it made me feel." (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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Marine Squad Three Five walk through a soon-to-be poppy field during a daily patrol near Hassanbad in the Helmand Province, Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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Young Afghan children, dressed in their finest clothes and decorated bikes for a Muslim holiday, watch Marines patrol through their village outside the wire at FOB Hassanabad, Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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Navy corpsman HA Nate Rice, of Virginia Beach, Virginia walks through a field of marijuana plants as he and members of a squad do a daily patrol near FOB Hassanabad in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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Mrine Cpl. Jeff De Young, Holland, Michigan is nicknamed "Kid" by the other Marines for his youthful appearance. Here he uses his rifle scope to eye suspicious onlookers down the road from the Marines' position. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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Marine Cpl Jeffrey De Young, of Holland, Michigan and LCpl Gamble, of Sugarland, Texas, watch an Afghan man walk past them as they start the day's patrol outside the wire at FOB Hassanabad in Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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To avoid the chance of setting off IED's on the path SSgt John Nickerson, of Pontiac, Michigan, wades through an irrigation ditch while leading his patrol through the farmland around FOB Hassanabad, Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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LCpl Michael Freeman, of Fayetteville, Arkansas gets help crossing a mud filled irrigation ditch by LCpl John Lopes, of Springfield, Massachusetts during their afternoon patrol. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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A young boy in a wheelbarrow shows Navy medic HA Nate Rice, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, the burns he received on his leg after a pot of boiling water spilled on him. Although the accident occurred two days earlier, his family waited until they saw the American patrol to bring him out for aid. He was later airlifted to a Marine medical facility. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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A young boy in a wheelbarrow shows Navy medic HA Nate Rice, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, the burns he received on his leg after a pot of boiling water spilled on him. Although the accident occurred two days earlier, his family waited until they saw the American patrol to bring him out for aid. He was later airlifted to a Marine medical facility. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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Marine Cpl Jeffrey De Young, of Holland, Michigan, tries to get a minesweeper to work but it was broken and became just added weight to carry on this day's patrol with the "Pipehitters" from FOB Hassanabad, Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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A sniper team keeps overwatch on the "Pipehitters" patrol as they ready to cross a key bridge over a canal near their FOB in Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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Navy medic HA Nate Rice, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, goes from walking in muddy fields to being choked by dust on a road as they head back to the FOB after a day's patrol. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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LCpl John Lopes, of Springfield, Massachussetts, walks past a herd of goats and sheep as they near the end of the day's patrol in the area around FOB Hassanabad, Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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SSgt John Nickerson, of Pontiac, Michigan directs Cpl Jeffrey De Young, of Holland, Michigan as he uses a trenching tool to look for a weapons cache in an abandoned structure near FOB Hassanabad, Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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LCpl Gamble is approached by Afghan children wanting food near the end of the patrol naer FOB Hassanabad, Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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LCpl John Lopes, of Springfield, Massachussetts, walks across a footbridge near FOB Hassanabad. The footbridge is a key position for the Marines to hold over the Taliban. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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LCpl Christopher Dutson, of Richland, Washington, carefully checks piles of corn and their stalks with a mine detector during a foot patrol near FOB Hassanabad, Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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Navy Corpsman HA Nate Rice, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, and LCpl Christopher Dutson, of Richland, Washington watch the perimeter as other members of their squad check a building for weapons caches.(Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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SSgt John Nickerson, of Pontiac, Michigan, gestures for his men to bring a shovel to check a suspicious area in an abandoned structure where IEDs have been found. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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A young Afghan girl asks for food near FOB Hassanabad as the "Pipehitters" start the day's patrol. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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LCpl Matt Muldoon, of Troy, Missouri, checks the rear of the patrol formation during the "Pipehitters" journey near their FOB in Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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Afghan girls, dressed for a religious holiday, watch as a squad of Marines walk near their home during a patrol in the Helmand Province, Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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LCpl Christopher Dutson, of Richland, Washington, kneels in waste-high grass as he keeps watch over a squad of Marines on patrol outside the wire at FOB Hassanabad, Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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Afghan boys dressed for a Muslim holiday watch as a squad of Marines from FOB Hassanabad patrol through their village in Afghanistan. (Chuck Liddy/Raleigh News & Observer/MCT)
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