Operation Champion Sword is a joint operation involving Afghanistan National Security Forces and International Security Assistance Forces focused on specific militant targets and safe havens within the Sabari and Terezai districts of Khost province in eastern Afghanistan. (Photos by U.S. Army Spc. Matthew Freire, 55th Signal Company)

U.S. Soldiers, from the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, depart on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter from an air assault mission to search Khost province of Afghanistan during Operation Champion Sword, July 28.

A U.S. Army Soldier, with Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, is in position pulling rear security during an air-assault mission in support of Operation Champion Sword, July 28.

Paratrooper Spc. Derrick Cherry of 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, pulls security during an air-assault mission to search the area of Khost province, Afghanistan during Operation Champion Sword, July 29.

Paratroopers from 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, run off a CH-47 Chinook Helicopter during an air-assault mission to search the area of Khost province, Afghanistan during Operation Champion Sword, July 29.

Soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, wait for the CH-47 Chinook helicopter to land so they can depart from an air-assault mission to search Khost province, Afghanistan, during Operation Champion Sword, July 28.

Cpl. James Daoust, field medic, 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, provides medical care to an Afghan boy during an air-assault mission to search the area of Khost province of Afghanistan during Operation Champion Sword, July 29.

U.S. Soldiers, from the 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airbonre), 25th Infantry Division, conduct an air-assault mission to search Khost province, Afghanistan during Operation Champion Sword, July 28.

An Afghan national army soldier plays with a child during Operation Champion Sword in Khost province, Afghanistan, July 28.

 A paratrooper from 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, secures the landing zone during an air-assault mission to search the area of Khost province, Afghanistan during Operation Champion Sword, July 29.