Rocket and Roll by Rick Herter

The Boeing AH-64 Apache is arguably the finest and most lethal attack helicopter in the world. Introduced into the U.S. Army inventory in 1986, The fearsome helicopter cut its combat teeth a few years later during the Operation Desert Storm.

Since that time, the Apache has continued to be technologically upgraded and after almost 40 years, the aircraft is still on the cutting edge of military capability. In this scene from Afghanistan, an Apache crew releases a Hellfire missile toward a target of the mountainous foothills ahead. Behind the gunship and in the distance is the medieval-era village of Baraki Barak. The town is in a mountainous area in the Logar River Valley. The main road of Ghazni-Kabul passes about sixteen miles to the west of the town which has made this a hotly-contested area between the Taliban and American troops. The town is named after the historical Ormur tribe, also known as the Baraki tribe.