Although the Afghan National Army is taking over more and more bases and functions,American troops are still carrying out certain tasks by themselves even as their involvement trails off to nearly full withdrawal by the end of 2014.For example,US Marines of Bravo Company,1st Battalion,7th Marine Regiment conducted a mission in Tagrevshk Village in Helmand Province,Afghanstan on 1 May,2014,as documented in a Department of Defense photo essay.The Marines were inserted into the village by CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters.Their mission was to disrupt suspected Taliban militants in the area.It's a show of force,a security sweep and an intellgence operation.
Several of the Marines went down on one knee to provide security,while an automatic rifleman secured the mission by assuming a prone position with his weapon.Platoon commander 1ST LT Robert Key,Jr. knelt on one knee while he established radio communications with his headquarters.
Under a fire team leader,some of the Marines patrolled the perimeter of the village.Assisted by an interpreter,SGT Warren Sparks gathered intelligence from a village elder.A biometric enrollment and screening device,which is applied to the forehead,was used by a corporal to check out an Afghan man who wore a camouflage vest.
At the conclusion of the mission,a yellow M18 Colored Smoke Grenade was set off to mark the landing zone and two Super Stallions extracted Bravo Company from Tagrevshk Village.Besides marking landing zones,the grenades are used for ground-to-ground or ground-to-air signaling;target marking;and as a screening device for unit manueuvering.The grenades come in red,green,yellow and violet smoke and produce clouds of smoke for 50-90 seconds.
The CH-53E is primarily an assault support helicopter that lifts heavy weapons and materiel such as Humvess,howitzers and general support cargo,but can also transport up to 55 troops.It is armed with two XM-218 and one GAU-21 .50-caliber machine guns.
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