Marine 1st Lt. Shaun Miller, right, tries to tally the damges to an Afghan man's home before handin

Marine 1st Lt. Shaun Miller, right, tries to tally the damges to an Afghan man's home before handing him a promisory note on a piece of paper offering to pay for damages caused by the Marines during a month of fighting that had recently taken place in the largely rural area in Helmand province. According to the military, the area, only about 40 miles from where the Marines first landed in Afghanistan in 2001, had become a Taliban stronghold and is located in one of the world's major opium production areas. (Photo by Rick Loomis/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)