Army Staff Sgt. James Bates, a security force squad leader with Provincial Reconstruction Team Farah, pulls security at a landing zone Sept. 26. Behind him, his team loads a tactical vehicle into the cargo bay of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter in Pur Chaman district, Farah province. The mission marks the first time coalition forces have been to the Pur Chaman district in western Afghanistan in more than a year.