An Afghan boy walks alongside U.S. Marine 1st Lt. Steve

An Afghan boy walks alongside U.S. Marine 1st Lt. Steve Rimmer, the 4th Platoon commander for Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, and a 29-year-old native of Knoxville, Tenn., while Rimmer and fellow Marines partner with Afghan National Police on a security patrol during the Garmsir district community council elections here, April 17, 2012. During the Afghan-led elections in Helmand province’s Garmsir district, village elders accounted for more than 2,200 votes to fill 34 DCC seats. Approximately 200 members of the Afghan National Security Forces worked to secure the voting site by searching shops, vehicles and foot traffic while Marines with 3/3 observed from the periphery. Despite reports of potential insurgent activity during the elections, the event transpired without any incident.