Here are some more pictures from my little excursion into the wilds of Afghanistan.  

Because of bandwidth constraints sending emails with lots of pictures is difficult, so I figured I would put together a picture page and send out the link instead.  
These pictures are of me and the outstanding young men with whom I am working to help the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan become a stable and safe place for the people of Afghanistan.

US Flag in front of AF Flag

A nice picture of the American and Afghan flags just inside our ECP.

Firing Range

We set up a range out behind our COP (Combat Outpost).  Here we are verifying our zeroes while we wait for the ANP to arrive for training.

5.56 cartridges with bullet holes through them

As you can see, we are pretty good shots.  These cases were shot with 5.56 mm rounds at a distance of 25 meters.  Mine is the one on the right.  I was firing off hand standing.  The middle one was shot by our terp, who claimed he had never shot a rifle before, just a BB gun at birds.  Right.  And I'm the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

Afghan kids picking up brass
 
When we finished shooting, the kids come and police up the brass.  The brass is very valuble here,  After a firefight they do the same thing.  Battle damage assessment can be hard if you wait to long.

Empty draw

We were looking for taliban in this draw.  No tally here, but it is a nice picture.

A patch of green near the riverbed

This is an area near the riverbed by our COP.  Trees and weeds are not common here, so it is nice to get a chance to walk around in the shade of trees.

Afghan village and fields

This is a picture taken from a peak overlooking a village.  The fields are vibrant with the second planting.  Corn is ready for harvest around August here.