Soldiers with the 422nd Expeditionary Signal Battalion of the Nevada Army National Guard provided the communications at Kandahar Air Field in 2011. Steve Ranson/LVN

Staff Sgt. Wes Brockman deployed to Camp Phoenix near Kabul in 2012 with the 593rd Transportation Co., of the Nevada Army National Guard. Steve Ranson/LVN

A Chinook helicopter with the 189th GSB Aviation, Nevada Army National Guard, flies over Afghanistan in 2012 south of Bagram Air Field. Steve Ranson/LVN

The 593rd Transportation Co., ensured MRAPS (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) were ready to move out at Camp Phoenix on a November 2012 night. Steve Ranson/LVN

Two Nevada Guardsmen — Chief Warrant Officer 2 John M. Flynn of Sparks and Sgt. Patrick Stewart of Sparks (formerly of Fernley) — along with three other soldiers —Warrant Officer Adrian B. Stump and Sgt. Tane T. Baum, both of Pendleton, Ore., and Sgt. Kenneth G. Ross of Peoria, Ariz. — died when their CH-47 was shot down in Afghanistan in September 2005. A memorial stands in their honor at the Nevada Army National Guard’s Army Aviation Support Facility at Stead. Steve Ranson/LVN

Sgt. Sean Smith of the 189th GSB Aviation, Nevada Army National Guard, inspects a CH-47 helicopter in November 2012 at Shank Forward Operating Base. Steve Ranson/LVN

Staff Sgt. Don Welch stands next to one of the cells at the Detention Facility in Parwan, Afghanistan in 2011. Walsh is a member of the 485th Military Police Company of the Nevada Army National Guard. Steve Ranson/LVN