Sgt. Gregory Phipps, sergeant of the guard for Headquarters and Service Company Guard Forces, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, speaks a few words into his radio. Less than two minutes later, a group of Marines in full combat gear are standing outside his office prepared to respond to any threat to their camp.

Marines with the Embedded Training Team of Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, took time off from their everyday routine to bond with their Afghan National Army counterparts here, March 23, 2012.

Soldiers of Weapons Tolai, 3rd Kandak, 215th Corps worked with the Marines of the Weapons Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, to set up a vehicle check point in Marjah, March 22.

When Maj. Joseph R. Jackson arrived here in October 2011, the bazaar was almost completely abandoned. More than 400 stalls lay empty except for a lone bakery supplying bread to the Afghan Uniformed Police and local nationals. Since then, businesses have began opening in the bazaar as Kajaki residents felt safe and optimistic enough to return for the first time since 2006.

The Marines here guard the northeastern frontier in Helmand province. Beyond the boundary of the observation post lies known enemy territory, where insurgent fighters have taken refuge. Farmland and abandoned compounds surround the post. Insurgents sporadically shoot machine gun bursts and launch attacks against the Marines from many different positions, and when the Marines fight back, the enemy forces flee into dry riverbeds deep enough to conceal most movement. For the past four months, the Marines of Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment repelled dozens of attacks and kept enemy forces from moving forward.

Marine advisors with Police Advisory Team 1, 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, frequently visit the Afghan Uniformed Police district headquarters here. Before entering the compound, the Marines leave their body armor and helmets in the vehicles outside as a gesture of trust that the Afghan police secured the area, and the Marines would not need their body armor around their counterparts.

Team 2, Civil Affairs Detachment 11.2, 11th Marine Regiment, is responsible for many projects throughout the city of Marjah. The team contracts construction projects to local Afghan companies to help improve the economy and quality of life in Marjah.

Sergeant Darin Dains Jr., a combat engineer with Bravo Company, 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion (Forward), relaxes on his cot, watching movies while joking with friends. Even when relaxed Dains took the time to ask Marines how they were doing, making sure everything was okay.

The fallen Marine was remembered as a comic relief by many of his friends, but as Marines and sailors gathered for his memorial service, there was no laughter. The sun shined brightly against the mountain where the Marines of Golf Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, remembered the life of Cpl. Conner T. Lowry, who served as a fire team leader, designated marksman, and ammunition technician chief.

The soldiers all gather together inside the tent, the fluorescent light casts shadows across the Afghan National Army soldiers’ faces. Medical supplies of bandages, gauze and various tools line the shelves behind the five men, as they surround the stretcher carrying their Tolai member.

Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta, arrived at Forward Operating Base Shukvani, as the soldiers of the 31st Georgian Light Infantry Battalion stood in formation to greet the guest of honor, March 14.

The members of the National Interdiction Unit, a group of Afghan special forces, stand side-by-side with Marines of 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment as they prepare for their next mission during rehearsals, March 13.

Afghan police and army units took the lead in sweeping a populated area in northwest Marjah, Afghanistan, Feb. 29 to March 1.

The siren went off in the fire direction center, where Marines awaited the targeting data needed to launch rockets to targets. Seconds later, the trucks rolled into position, carrying rocket launcher pods ready to help troops who were receiving mortar fire. In less than five minutes, the rockets were ready to fire because of the work of junior noncommissioned officers serving as section chiefs with 3rd Platoon, Tango Battery, 5th Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment. The soldiers on the ground lost sight of the enemy and called off the mission, and the Marines returned to their posts to await another call for fire.

If it’s one thing Cpl. Joshua Brooks likes most about his deployment to Afghanistan, it’s his visits to the school in Khan Neshin.

Despite it being the hottest day in months, the Marine patrols with a constant smile, making jokes with his friends and smiling with the locals, Feb. 27.

There was enough explosive material to construct hundreds of improvised explosive devices. Marines from 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment lacked the power to destroy the huge IED cache. They called for fire, and eight rockets landed within seconds of being fired. According to the after action report from the artillery platoon, all rounds impacted on target, the site was destroyed, and there was no collateral damage.

The Marine double checks his men’s gear and begins to debrief, Feb. 26. The squad leader asked the Marines about the different Afghan locals they talked to and assessed what the squad did well and what they could improve on.

It was January 2012 when insurgents opened up with machine gun fire at an Afghan National Army compound in Musa Qala District. Bullets landed within feet of the headquarters of Command Outpost Griffin, where four Marine advisers observed as the enemy closed within 50 meters (164 ft.) of the compound before ANA soldiers repelled the assault.

First one Afghan appears, then another and another. Within minutes, Afghan children surround the patrolling Marine, Feb. 22. The sight is familiar to Lance Cpl. Edgar Lima, an assaultman, for 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon, Lima Company.

The bulldozer, unceremoniously, rams into the wall of mud bricks and straw, causing the top half to collapse. With dust and debris forming a cloud around the machine, local Afghans children gather to see what the commotion is about. The bulldozer backs up and plows into the wall again, leaving a pile of rubble where the outer wall once stood. Marines with 3rd Combat Engineer Battalion spent three days leveling part of the patrol base, here, Feb. 23.