Afghanistan before the surge.

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In the summer of 2008, a company of U.S. soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division was beginning their 15-month tour in the Pech Valley, northeastern Afghanistan.

Their task: to disrupt the insurgents flowing across the nearby border with Pakistan, and stop them from terrorizing the villagers along the valley floor.

They faced constant attacks by insurgents, endless patrols to reassure nervous villagers, and unforgiving terrain as they tried to hold the line with only with a small number of men in a vast valley.

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This is their story.

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