lynsey addario, photographer

Afghanistan: Medevacs

United States Army MEDEVACS with the 82nd Airborne pick up injured Americans in Helmand Province of Afghanistan and bring them to a level II hospital at the forward operating base run by the Marines and the Navy, November 29, 2009.
  
Lance Cpl Alex Stroe, 21, of Washington State, a Marine with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary force, is treated after he and another soldier were roughly three feet from an improvised explosive device when it went off while they were patrolling in Helmand, in Southern Afghanistan, November 29, 2009. Stroe has since fully recovered. United States President Obama announced recently that an additional 30,000 Marines are deploying to Afghanistan to continue the fight against the Taliban.
   
Chaplain Lt. Stephen Brown, 40, prays over Lance Cpl Alex Stroe, 21, of Washington State, a Marine with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2nd Marine Expeditionary force, after he and another soldier survived an improvised explosive device when it went off while they were patrolling in Helmand, in Southern Afghanistan, November 29, 2009. Stroe has since fully recovered.
     
  
United States Navy doctors attached to the Marines in Southern Afghanistan try to save the life of a Lance Cpl., who's name has been withheald, after he was fatally injured while performing combat operations in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, December 1, 2009. Doctors tried to save him, a Marine with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2 Marine Expeditionary force, for 29 minutes before he was pronounced dead in the forward operating base hospital in Southern Afghanistan.
  
United States Navy doctors attached to the Marines in Southern Afghanistan try to save the life of a Lance Cpl. who's name has been withheald, after he was fatally injured while performing combat operations in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, December 1, 2009. Doctors tried to save him, a Marine with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2 Marine Expeditionary force, for 29 minutes before he was pronounced dead in the forward operating base hospital in Southern Afghanistan.
  
United States Navy doctors attached to the Marines in Southern Afghanistan try to save the life of a Lance Cpl, who's name has been withheald, after he was fatally injured while performing combat operations in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, December 1, 2009. Doctors tried to save him, a Marine with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2 Marine Expeditionary force, for 29 minutes before he was pronounced dead in the forward operating base hospital in Southern Afghanistan.
     
  
United States Navy doctors attached to the Marines in Southern Afghanistan try to save the life of a Lance Cpl. who's name has been withheald, after he was fatally injured while performing combat operations in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, December 1, 2009. Doctors tried to save him, a Marine with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2 Marine Expeditionary force, for 29 minutes before he was pronounced dead in the forward operating base hospital in Southern Afghanistan.
  
United States Navy doctors attached to the Marines in Southern Afghanistan try to save the life of a Lance Cpl. who's name has been withheald, after he was fatally injured while performing combat operations in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, December 1, 2009. Doctors tried to save him, a Marine with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2 Marine Expeditionary force, for 29 minutes before he was pronounced dead in the forward operating base hospital in Southern Afghanistan.
  
United States Navy doctors attached to the Marines in Southern Afghanistan try to save the life of a Lance Cpl. who's name has been withheald, after he was fatally injured while performing combat operations in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, December 1, 2009. Doctors tried to save him, a Marine with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2 Marine Expeditionary force, for 29 minutes before he was pronounced dead in the forward operating base hospital in Southern Afghanistan.
     
  
United States Navy doctors attached to the Marines in Southern Afghanistan try to save the life of a Lance Cpl.who's name has been withheald, after he was fatally injured while performing combat operations in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, December 1, 2009. Doctors tried to save him, a Marine with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2 Marine Expeditionary force, for 29 minutes before he was pronounced dead in the forward operating base hospital in Southern Afghanistan.
  
United States Navy doctors attached to the Marines in Southern Afghanistan try to save the life of a Lance Cpl. who's name has been withheald, after he was fatally injured while performing combat operations in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, December 1, 2009. Doctors tried to save him, a Marine with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2 Marine Expeditionary force, for 29 minutes before he was pronounced dead in the forward operating base hospital in Southern Afghanistan.
  
United States soldiers carry the body of a Lance Cpl. who's name has been withheald, to a temporary morgue on a remote base in southern Afghanistan after he died while performing combat operations in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, December 1, 2009. He was a Marine with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, 2 Marine Expeditionary force, camp Lejeune, NC.