2011 military photographer of the year – Part 2

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Patrick Reynolds, Security Forces squad leader attached to Provincial Reconstruction Team Zabul, fights racing water while holding onto a tow strap attached to an Afghan National Army vehicle stuck in the Lurah River in Shinkai District, Afghanistan, Oct. 12, 2011. Sergeant Reynolds is deployed from Charlie Company, 182nd Infantry Regiment, Massachusetts National Guard. (Photo by SrA Grovert Fuentes-Contreras)

KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – U.S. Army Soldiers assigned to Company C, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, Task Force No Slack, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, say farewell to fallen comrades during a memorial service for six fallen soldiers at Forward Operating Base Joyce in eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar Province. (Photo by U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Mark Burrell, 210th MPAD).

“Daddy,” screams a little girl as her smiling father approaches, still wearing his desert utilities during his homecoming from deployment with Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 362 on Feb. 28, 2011 at Marine Corps Air Station, Kaneohe Bay. (Photo by Cpl. Tyler L. Main)

Former Senior Airman Brian Kolfage, a Security Forces Airman, holds his wife, Ashley on his lap as they look out over the water on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, Sept. 9. Kolfage was one of the first Airmen deployed to Iraq in 2003 at the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom. During a routine trip to the chow hall, a mortar landed less than 10 feet in front of him. Kolfage barely escaped with his life and is the most injured and surviving Airman from any war. (Photo by Lauren R. Main, SrA, USAF)

U.S. Air Force Master Sergeant Keri Whitehead waits for a post surgery exam at her plastic surgeon’s office on March 31, 2011, in Charleston, S.C. Keri underwent the first of three reconstructive surgeries after her battle with breast cancer.  (Photo by Jeremy Lock, MSgt, USAF)

Jill Walton and her three daughters anxiously wait for Maj. Tom Walton to walk through customs upon returning home on the last flight home from Iraq at the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. The flight marks the conclusion of Operation New Dawn for more than 200 Airmen. (Photo by Tech. Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III)

Forrest, a 19-year-old homeless teen with no papers, rolls a cigarette, Baltimore, Md. June 7, 2011. Forrest and his friends, some of whom are absent without leave from the military and others who have been on their own since they were 14, travel from city to city. (Photo by Airman 1st Class Jodi Martinez)

An Afghan woman shields her face while watching the International Women’s Day celebration in the Governor’s compound in Ghazni City, Afghanistan, March 8, 2011. Although many women shed their burkas for the event, some covered their facees in the presence of men despite the relaxed restrictions. (Photo by Courtney Witt, SrA, USAF)

CAMP BASTION, Afghanistan (Oct. 23, 2011) A Mil MI-8 helicopter taxis on the runway at sunrise at Camp Bastion, Helmand province, Oct. 23. The Russian-built MI-8 is in use in over 50 countries around the globe. (Photo by Jonathan David Chandler, MC2(AW), USN)