(Rick Emert/Stars and Stripes)

Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, Sept. 10, 2003: Quick Reactionary Force soldiers load onto a Chinook at the flight line. The soldiers, from 10th Mountain Division’s Company A, 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, were put on alert and had to be ready to board the Chinook in 15 minutes. The alert turned out to be an exercise.