The photo here is one of the 13 images in the slideshow below of U.S. Paratroopers conducting a mission in Ghazni Province, Afghanistan on May 4, 2012.

<< U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Miguel Alfaro, left, Spc. Alpesh Patel, center, and Sgt. Nick Herrera, right, prepare a mortar position during a patrol in a village in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, May 4, 2012. Alfaro, Patel and Herrera are assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team. Emplacing the mortar is a common practice to protect a force that will be semi-stationary for a length of time. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Michael J. MacLeod