U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson, right, commander, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade - Afghanistan, meets with Helmand Province government officials at Patrol Base Jaker in the Nawa District of the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, July 23, 2009. Nicholson was invited by Provincial Governor Gulav Mangal to a shura with Nawa District elders with hopes of re-establishing the Afghan government.

WEAPONS WORK - U.S. Army Spc. Jonathan Araiza uses a mine detector during a mission with Afghan police officers to search for enemy weapons caches near Shah Wali Zarat in Khost province, Afghanistan, July 24, 2009. Araiza is deployed with the 25 Infantry Division's Company A, 425th Brigade Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team. U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Andrew Smith.

Company F Marines hold a hilltop position to provide machine-gun fire on a simulated enemy position during a live-fire night raid July 26. The company is part of Battalion Landing Team 2/4, the ground combat element of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The MEU, comprised of 2,200 Marines and sailors, is currently training at sea, in the air and on land before it deploys later this year.

U.S. Army Soldiers with Battery C, 1st Battalion, 321st Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 18th Fires Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, N.C., fire 155mm rounds using an M777 Howitzer weapons system, July 6, on Forward Operating Base Bostick, Afghanistan.

A Soldier from the 2nd Platoon, 'C' Company, 2-87 Infantry Battalion takes a break in his 'box' during a joint service operation in Afghanistan.

U.S. Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, wait for the CH-47 Chinook helicopter to land so they can depart from an air-assault mission to search Khost province, Afghanistan, during Operation Champion Sword, July 28.

An AV/8-B Harrier assigned to the Sea Elks of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 166 lands aboard the amphibious transport dock ship USS Cleveland.

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Andrew Frengel and other Soldiers move through Sab al Bour, north of Baghdad, July 20, 2009. The Soldiers, from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, are assigned to Troop A, 2nd Squadron, 104th Cavalry Regiment, 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

Sgt. Jerrod Fields, a U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program Paralympic sprinter hopeful, works out at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. A below-the-knee amputee, Fields won a gold medal in the 100 meters with a time of 12.15 seconds at the Endeavor Games in Edmond, Okla., on June 13, 2009.