(Dianna Cahn/Stars and Stripes)

Afghanistan, Aug. 2, 2010: A soldier from A Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment looks out over the Kunar River road in Spin Kay, a site of frequent attacks by insurgents in the mountains on either side of the river. In the summer of 2010 Combat Outpost Monti suffered a spate of deadly attacks that would reverberate throughout the outpost and back home. Across 31 days, a staggering nine men at COP Monti were killed in insurgent attacks. Several more were wounded, and still others were pulled from the theater, succumbing to the psychological strain, before death finally released its grip on the embattled base.

Read Dianna Cahn’s story of the men of COP Monti here.