A U.S. Army sniper sits in a bombed out building while guarding the perimeter outside Kandahar Airport in Afghanistan. Just down the street is the Taliban training camp where the ubiquitous scenes of black clad trainees were captured on video practicing various exercises. This was taken during Jeremy Lock’s first “boots on the ground” patrol. He remembers being excited, but, looking back on those days, can remember a naievete to the fact that “things could turn on you in a second.”

Official USAF photograph by Staff Sgt. Jeremy T. Lock