SPERA, AFGHANISTAN - AUGUST 22: US Army soldiers from Alpha Company 1/121 Infantry (L), 48th BCT carry ballots boxes back to their base by helicopter after the Presidential Elections after a mission to Spera District Center (DC), location of a polling center, in order to provide security for the elections and to allow the HTT to interview Zadran tribesmen about tribal issues on August 22, 2009 in Spera, Khost Province, Afghanistan.The Human Terrain System, composed of several deployed Human Terrain Teams, is a US Army program that embeds civilian social scientists with combat units. The purpose of the program is to provide the military with relevant socio-cultural information in order to affect decision making and ensure that soldiers have a holisitic picture of their operating environment. The social scientists gather data by going into the field with soldiers and using traditional ethnographic methods of collection: interviewing, observation, and surveys. Human Terrain Team (HTT) Afghan One (AF1) is attached to 4-25th IN BCT, in Khost, Paktya, and Paktika provinces. (Photo by Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images)
