THE TENSION: Combat Camera: US Troops Conduct Air Assault in Eastern Afghanistan

Silhouetted by the morning sun, Soldiers with the 101st Division Special Troops Battalion, 101st Airborne Division wait on the flightline at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Nov. 4, 2008. The soldiers went on an air assault mission to a narrow valley in eastern Afghanistan and searched for improvised explosive device making materials. (Photographer: Spc. Mary Gonzalez, Combined Joint Task Force 101.)

Two soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division follow a goat path while patrolling a small valley during an air assault in eastern Afghanistan, Nov. 4, 2008. (Photographer: Spc. Mary Gonzalez, Combined Joint Task Force 101.)

Spirits were high as soldiers with Alpha Company, 101st Division Special Troops Battalion, 101st Airborne Division scale a hillside during an air assault mission into a narrow valley in eastern Afghanistan, Nov. 4, 2008. The soldiers conducted a search of a small village in the valley, looking for improvised explosive device making materials. (Photographer: Spc. Mary Gonzalez, Combined Joint Task Force 101.)

Standing by on a hill top, soldiers with the 101st Division Special Troops Battalion, 101st Airborne Division watch as two Chinook helicopters fly in to take them back to Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Nov. 4, 2008. The soldiers searched a small village in the valley below for improvised explosive device making materials and facilities. (Photographer: Spc. Mary Gonzalez, Combined Joint Task Force 101.)

Soldiers with Alpha Company, 101st Division Special Troops Battalion, 101st Airborne Division, survey the area from a roof top in a small village, Nov. 4, 2008. They and more than 100 other 101st soldiers, air assaulted into a narrow valley and searched a village for improvised explosive device making materials and facilities. (Photographer: Spc. Mary Gonzalez, Combined Joint Task Force 101.)

Soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division, form a security perimeter as a Chinook helicopter takes off immediately after the troops unload for an air assault mission in eastern Afghanistan, Nov. 4, 2008. (Photographer: Spc. Mary Gonzalez, Combined Joint Task Force 101.)

A soldier with Alpha Company, 101st Division Special Troops Battalion, 101st Airborne Division, is haloed by light shining through a Chinook helicopter's window as he flies out from Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, to air assault into a narrow valley to search for improvised explosive device making materials, Nov. 4, 2008. (Photographer: Spc. Mary Gonzalez, Combined Joint Task Force 101.)

Like a stampede, soldiers with the 101st Division Special Troops Battalion, 101st Airborne Division, rush into a Chinook helicopter as it briefly touches down to take them back to Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Nov. 4, 2008. The troops were conducting an air assault mission in a small village in eastern Afghanistan to search for improvised explosive device making materials and facilities. (Photographer: Spc. Mary Gonzalez, Combined Joint Task Force 101.)

Soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division patrol a small village during an air assault mission in eastern Afghanistan, Nov. 4, 2008. (Photographer: Spc. Mary Gonzalez, Combined Joint Task Force 101.)

Soldiers with the 101st Airborne Division shield themselves from flying debris and dusty winds as a Chinook helicopter touches down to take them back to Bagram Air Field after an air assault mission in eastern Afghanistan, Nov. 4, 2008. (Photographer: Spc. Mary Gonzalez, Combined Joint Task Force 101.)

Dispatches from the Front:

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan, Nov. 9, 2008 -- Soldiers with Headquarters and Headquarters Company and Alpha Company, 101st Division Special Troops Battalion, 101st Airborne Division, conducted an air assault mission in Bamyan province, eastern Afghanistan, Nov. 4, 2008.

It was suspected that a small village in a narrow valley in Bamyan province was facilitating improvised explosive device cells.

Using Chinook helicopters, more than 100 troops air assaulted to the village and searched for IED making materials. After several hours of patrolling they distributed humanitarian assistance.

(Report by Spc. Mary L. Gonzalez, Combined Joint Task Force -101 Public Affairs.)