U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Michael Styskal (right), the 2nd

U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Michael Styskal (right), the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment commanding officer, is accompanied by a young Afghan friend as he leads a foot patrol with Col. Roger Turner, the Regimental Combat Team 5 commanding officer, through a bazaar to an Afghan Uniformed Police precinct to speak with Marines and Afghan police here, April 5, 2012. Styskal and a security detail of Marines accompanied Turner and his staff during a recent trip to different combat outposts in Helmand province's Marjah district. In addition to advising Afghan forces in the blocks of Marjah, 2nd Bn., 9th Marines conducted partnered counternarcotics missions with the Afghan National Interdiction Unit in the Bari Desert during Operation Psarlay Taba. The partnered force captured around 26,000 pounds of assorted opium products over the course of the four-month operation. (Photo by Sgt. Michael Cifuentes)