Sgt. John Barton of the 4th Brigade of the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division pets his platoon's pet dog Ray-Ray as he awakens from sleeping outside at combat outpost Impala June 29, 2010 in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan. Many US troops in Afghanistan sleep in the outdoors in the summer due to the stifling overnight heat. The 82nd Airborne along with NATO Italian troops have been working for nearly a year in this combative zone in the far northwest of the country near the Turkmenistan border, attempting to pacify and extend the Afghanistan central government rule to this rural and fiercely independent area rife with Taliban insurgents.