From Afghanistan: May 2012, one of 42 photos. Dust lights up the rotors of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter as paratroopers with 3rd Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment load for an air assault mission near Combat Outpost Ab Band in Ghazni province, Afghanistan, on May 23, 2012. Small sand particles striking titanium/nickel abrasion strips on the rotors causes a visible corona at night. In 2009, photographer Michael Yon dubbed this phenomenon the “Kopp-Etchells effect”, to honor Cpl. Benjamin Kopp, and Cpl. Joseph Etchells, recently fallen American and British soldiers. (U.S. Army/Sgt. Mike MacLeod)














