The actions taken by Kiowa Warrior pilots last month prevented a triggerman for an improvised explosive device from harming Americans and Iraqis.

Four pilots in two OH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicopters were conducting an aerial reconnaissance mission in northern Iraq, March 11, 2011, in conjunction with U.S. and Iraqi ground forces, when they observed and engaged an IED emplacer along a major route frequently used by Iraqi civilians and U.S. forces.

One thing the pilots of the 40th Combat Aviation Brigade don’t have to worry about when executing a plan is fuel, thanks to the oldiers who operate the post’s Forward Arming and Refueling Point (FARP).

“We are like the NASCAR pit crew of aviation,” said 1st Lt. Marcellus Richardson, FARP officer in charge, and a native of Los Angeles. “Pilots fly in for a quick pit stop and we fuel them, arm them, and send them on their way.”

A combined Afghan and coalition security force captured a Taliban leader and numerous associates during a security operation in Panjwa’i District, Kandahar province, yesterday.

The leader was second-in-command for insurgent operations in Panjwa’i and actively planned attacks against coalition forces, including an attack against a coalition forward operating base.

Multiple intelligence tips led the security force to a compound in the district in search of the leader. The force secured and cleared multiple buildings, while ensuring the safety of the women and children.

Soldiers from 3rd Platoon, Company D, 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry Regiment, Task Force Ironman, climbed up a mountain in the area around the Aziz Khan Kats Mountain Valley near the Duranta Tunnel outside Jalalabad, Afghanistan, to check on their Afghan National Army counterparts who were manning observation posts there April 15.

Afghan and coalition forces killed 17 insurgents, including foreign fighters, and detained one suspected insurgent while searching for an al-Qaida senior leader during a security operation in Dangam district, Kunar province last night.

The senior al-Qaida leader commands and facilitates insurgents throughout the province and border region, directing weapons acquisition, movement, employment of fighters and equipment to Kunar for attacks against Afghan and coalition forces.

A U.S. military fighter jet destroyed two of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi's surface-to-air missile sites near the Libyan capital of Tripoli April 18, continuing U.S. support of NATO operations there, officials reported.

Since NATO took the lead of multilateral operations in Libya on April 1, U.S. military aircraft have flown more than 800 sorties in support of Operation Unified Protector.

More than 150 of those sorties have been "suppression of enemy air defense" missions, eight of which included ordnance drops, officials said.

The battlefield is a dangerous place and soldiers fighting there know that each engagement could be their last.

When flames of combat swell into an inferno, soldiers often rely on close-air support to overwhelm the enemy, or sometimes, to merely survive.

Tactical Air Control Party airmen control CAS, advise ground commanders, and are often that vital link to their fellow servicemembers’ survival.

Within the TACP community, they sum their mission in three simple words: Advise, assist and control.

Soldiers from 3rd Company, 1st Commando Kandak and Special Operations Task Force – East discovered multiple weapon caches during clearing operations in Shalay Valley, Khas Konar district, Konar province, April 19.

The Iraqi military kicked off Exercise Lion's Leap, a joint training exercise/demonstration near Baghdad, April 18.

The exhibition was just one of several ongoing, multi-phase exercises designed to further integrate the Iraqi air force, Iraqi Army Aviation Command and Iraqi army. This component brought together Iraqi troops in M1A1 Abrams tanks, armored personnel carriers and Mi-171 helicopters to showcase how the different components work together.