(Laura Rauch/Stars and Stripes)

Zabul Province, Afghanistan, Sept. 23, 2011: Pathfinders with Company F, 4th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment, 159th Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division link up with their vehicles after being dropped in by Chinook helicopters for a mission.

On May 26, 2011, eight Americans and two Afghans were killed in a series of improvised explosive device attacks in the Shorabak district near the Pakistani border. Six of those killed were from Team 3, in a Pathfinder unit in the 101st Airborne Division’s 4th Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment. In the days that followed, soldiers grappled with their losses as they looked for solace among themselves.

Stars and Stripes’ reporter and photographer Laura Rauch’s reported on how the soldiers grappled with their losses in a two-part series. Read part one here and part two here.