BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Aug. 18, 2006 -- Six U.S. and coalition troops peer out from a remote position on a ridge top in Afghanistan. At sunset on the third day of their vigil, a large force of Taliban extremists carrying heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades surround and pin down the team. An A-10 Thunderbolt II deployed to the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing, at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, from the 81st Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, flies a combat sortie over Afghanistan May 26 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. A-10s are deployed to Bagram from...