Spc. Joshua Black, a rigger with the 11th Quartermaster Company, 82nd Airborne Division, attaches one of 62 parachute ripcords to the static line of a C-17 Globemaster III at Bagram Airfield. This was the first time two C17s have participated in a combat cargo drop of this magnitude over one drop zone. Photo: Air Force Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson A C-17 Globemaster drops combat-delivery system bundles just a few hundred feet above another set floating down to Coalition Soldiers waiting below during the largest air-supply drop in Operation Enduring Freedom history in Paktika Province Photo: Spc. Micah E. Clare/October 2007
An Army Materiel Command s Afghan First program trainee grinds an ammo box in the metal shop at Bagram Airfield. Since its inception in March 2006, the Afghan First program has infused millions of dollars into the Afghan economy. Photo: Air Force Staff Sgt. Daniel Bellis/August 2007
Top: Airman 1st Class Josh Huffman, a C-130 Hercules loadmaster, drops a box of 10,000 warning leaflets over the southeastern mountains of Afghanistan. The leaflets were used to warn Taliban extremists not to interfere with Coalition activities. The airdrop mission contributed to Operation Achilles, launched by the International Security Assistance Force, to create an environment that will enable the Afghan government to improve security and quality of life for Afghan people. Photo: Tech. Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo/March 2007 Center: Country-music singer Toby Keith signs a Hellfire missile, Hello Taliban! Love, Toby Keith, after performing with his band at Forward Operating Base Salerno. The performance, his fifth USO concert tour in five years, was the first time Keith brought a band this far out on a combat tour. Photo: Army Pfc. Micah E. Clare/May 2007 Left: Medical-logistics technician and Afghan National Army mentor Air Force Master Sgt. Doug Suddueth (bottom) and Sgt. 1st Class Antonio Rivas move a load of medical equipment. The equipment was transported to a newly built $6.5 million, 50-bed hospital on the ANA s Hero Camp, just outside Kandahar Airfield. Photo: Air Force Master Sgt. Jim Varhegyi/August 2007
Above: A Republic of Korea Army nurse performs a wellness check on an Afghan child at Bagram Airfield. The humanitarian-aid project was one of 11 that handed out nearly seven tons of supplies to Afghan nationals at the Korean Hospital. Photo: Army Sgt. Rodney Carreiro/April 2007 Left: An Afghan woman and her grandson stand on the side of a road that Bravo Company, 864th Engineering Battalion, built. The thoroughfare passes directly in front of their home. We like the road. It gives us better access to the things we need, said the woman through an interpreter. Photo: Air Force Staff Sgt. Daniel Bellis/August 2007 Below: Two Afghan National Army Soldiers meet with a local Afghan during Operation Saray Has near Forward Operating Base Naray. The ANA worked with Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 1st Squadron, 91st Cavalry Regiment (Airborne), during the operation. Photo: Army Sgt. Brandon Aird/July 2007 Freedom Watch Magazine 5
Left: Air Force Staff Sgt. Eric Showalter, 391st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron avionics specialist, secures the lights on an F-15E at Bagram Airfield. Photo: Senior Airman Andrea Wright/February 2007 Middle: Three construction workers from Panjshir Valley build the foundation for a new elementary school. The school will teach children in shifts and have approximately 400 students. Photo: Senior Airman Brian Stives/May 2007 Bottom: Army Maj. Gordon Crawford, Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, gets his ear irrigated by Army Sgt. Heather M. Cusson, C Company, 710th Brigade Support Battalion. Photo: Army Pfc. Melissa M. Escobar/March 2007
Vehicles of the Afghan National Army and 3rd Platoon, Troop B, 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, tear across the rocky terrain of Paktika Province. Photo: Army Pfc. Micah E. Clare/April 2007 Above: Tech. Sgt. Myles Debshaw, 455th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Squadron crew chief, cleans the windshield of a C-130 Hercules. Myles works for the Illinois Air National Guard full time and is on his second deployment. Photo: Air Force Staff Sgt. Kevin Tomko/February 2007 Left: Spc. Kassandra Ketteler, Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team veterinary technician, de-worms a donkey during a Veterinarian Civil Action Program event in Panjshir Valley. Photo: Senior Airman Brian Stives/May 2007 Freedom Watch Magazine 7
Above: Afghan children walk toward a Medical Civic Assistance Program site in Chamkani, Paktya Province. Photo: Army Sgt. Michael Zuk/August 2007 Right: Members of Task Force Pegasus load boxes of rice, milk, tea and beans onto a Chinook helicopter at Bagram Airfield. Photo: Senior Airman Christine Collier/August 2007 8 Freedom Watch Magazine
Far left: Spc. Christian Rataczak, Bravo Company, 1/285th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion Apache crew chief, pushes a rotor blade into place for maintenance. Apache crew chiefs perform track and balance checks every 125 flight hours. These checks and adjustments ensure all four blades spin in line with one another. A blade as little as one-half inch out of line can cause vibrations and, ultimately, damage to the aircraft. Photo: Air Force Staff Sgt. Daniel Bellis/August 2007 Left: Surgical team members Air Force Maj. (Dr.) Christopher Dress, Maj. (Dr.) Dmitry Tuder and Airman 1st Class Angelia Sneed perform a free-flap operation on a 9-year-old girl suffering from a badly mangled leg. The procedure was the team s first free-flap operation performed at the Craig Joint Theater Hospital at Bagram Airfield. Courtesy photo/ June 2007 Below: A Soldier from Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, uses a biometrics system to take a picture of a local resident s iris. The system is currently being used throughout Afghanistan. Photo: Army Staff Sgt. Justin Hollely/September 2007 Freedom Watch Magazine 9
Provincial Reconstruction Team members living on and working out of Forward Operating Base Mehtar Lam in Laghman Province host a volleyball game for high-school students invited from the province s five districts. The weekly volleyball games are designed to give the students a chance to meet and interact with military members in a friendly atmosphere. Photo: Air Force Master Sgt. Jim Varhegyi/August 2007 Navy Cmdr. Adrienne Simmons, Khost Provincial Reconstruction Team medical provider, distributes medical supplies to medical staff members at the public-health clinic in Mando Zayi. Photo: Senior Airman Christine Collier/August 2007 10 Freedom Watch Magazine Air Force Staff Sgt. Tony Plyer, American Forces Network-Afghanistan, interviews Bill O Reilly, host of The O Reilly Factor television show, in the AFN-A studio at Bagram Airfield. Mr. O Reilly visited Bagram to sign autographs and personally thank servicemembers in Afghanistan for their service. Photo: Senior Airman Christine Collier/November 2007
Top: Representing both the most senior and most junior Airmen in attendance, Air Force Maj. Gen. Kevin Kennedy, director of the Air Component Coordination Element, Kabul, and Airman Thomas Hawthorne, 455th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron, cut the cake during the Air Force 60th anniversary dinner at Bagram Airfield. Photo: Air Force Staff Sgt. Craig Seals/September 2007 Left: A helicopter hovers over a bundle of airdropped supplies where 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division Paratroopers wait to transport it to nearby Bandar command observation post in Paktika Province. Photo: Spc. Micah E. Clare/October 2007 Below: The Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders dance for servicemembers as part of the Sergeant Major of the Army s USO 2007 Hope and Freedom tour at Bagram Airfield. Photo: Army Sgt. Timothy Dinneen/December 2007
Afghan National Auxiliary Police trainees respond to riot-control commands from Afghan National Police Capt. Muhammad Ishaq (right) during a training session. The trainees attended a two-week ANAP sustainment course held on Forward Operating Base Mehtar Lam in Laghman Province. The course was taught for the first time entirely by Afghan National police instructors. Photo: Air Force Master Sgt. Jim Varhegyi/September 2007 Air Force Staff Sgt. Rebecca Cook, 755th Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron engineering technician and eastern expansion project manager, performs a fencetie inspection at the eastern expansion project site at Bagram Airfield. Photo: Air Force Staff Sgt. Oshawn Jefferson/June 2007 12 Freedom Watch Magazine
A window leading to Ahmed Shah Massoud s tomb in Panjshir catches the reflection of Alex Tiersky, director of the Defense and Security Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. Tiersky visited Afghanistan to assess Coalition progress. Photo: Air Force Staff Sgt. Daniel Bellis/September 2007 Above: Students at a school in Mest in Paktika Province take a break from class to show off their new toys. Members from Task Force Rugged visited the school to inspect the progress of a new eight-room schoolhouse and distribute toys and candy. Photo: Air Force Staff Sgt. Sarah Gregory/November 2007 Left: Pararescueman Air Force Staff Sgt. Joseph Piccoli, 306th Rescue Squadron, rappels off the rock wall at Kandahar Airfield, during a training exercise. Photo: Senior Airman Andrea Wright/March 2007 Freedom Watch Magazine 13
Top: An F-15E from the 336th Fighter Squadron, Bagram Airfield, flies through the morning sky over eastern Afghanistan. From October to December the 336th FS flew more than 1,000 combat sorties, 4,000 flight hours, and dropped more than 150,000 pounds of precision-guided ordnance in support of U.S and Coalition forces. The F-15E is the U.S. Air Force s premier strike fighter. Photo: Air Force Lt. Col. James Gunn/December 2007 Center: Spc. Matt Vanleeuwen, a Chinook mechanic with Company D, 3-82nd General Support Aviation Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, removes the vertical hinges from the blades of his helicopter. Photo: Sgt. 1st Class Krishna Gamble/June 2007 Right: Two Afghan women walk down a path leading to the Egyptian Field Hospital on Bagram Airfield. The hospital has its own entry control point, manned by Egyptian, Afghan National Army and U.S. Soldiers. Photo: Air Force Staff Sgt. Daniel Bellis/November 2007 14 Freedom Watch Magazine
Senior Master Sgt. Roy Self cleans the ramp area after eight bundles of supplies were airdropped from a C-130 Hercules to troops in the field by the 774th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron from Bagram Airfield. Photo: Senior Master Sgt. Kim Allain/August 2007 A helmet, rifle, ID tags, boots and photo are displayed in memory of Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Blaskowski during a memorial ceremony Sept. 28 at Camp Blessing, Kunar Province. Blaskowski died in combat. Photo: Sgt. 1st Class Jacob Caldwell/September 2007 Air Force Staff Sgt. Josh Green, 455th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evaluation Flight medical technician, monitors a patient s heartbeat during an aeromedical evacuation out of Afghanistan. The 455th EAEF team uses C-130 Hercules aircraft to provide quick-evacuation response to injured Coalition forces and Afghan combatants and civilians. Photo by Air Force Staff Sgt. Joshua Jasper/September 2007 Freedom Watch Magazine 15