TIME contract photographer Yuri Kozyrev has traveled on assignment to Afghanistan and Iraq countless times in the past 15 years, documenting just about every aspect of America’s on-going wars. His most recent assignment this past January took him to Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, where he photographed the U.S. preparations to bring home the men and material of war after more than a decade of fighting.

While editing Kozyrev’s take, TIME’s international picture editor Patrick Witty noticed a similarity between several of the photographs. Looking back through the archive of the photographer’s work, Witty discovered that Kozyrev had made similar images of soldiers awaiting takeoff in a C-17 Globemaster—the plane that will take them out of the combat zone and, eventually, back to the States—in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite being taken almost three years apart, the photographs are visually similar—a subtle reminder that despite changing names, locations and circumstances, the tradition of war itself is a patterned response with a long history.


Above: August 2010:  U.S. soldiers from the Virginia National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment await takeoff as they head home from Camp Adder in Iraq. The unit mobilized in January 2010 and was originally scheduled to serve a 12-month tour of federal active duty.

Below: January 2013: Soldiers from the 101st Airborne and 1st Infantry Divisions await takeoff in the C-17 Globemaster that will take them from Bagram to Manas Airbase in Kyrgyzstan. There, they will await contracted flights home.

Photographs by Yuri Kozyrev documenting America’s long withdrawl from Afghanistan featured in the latest issue of TIME. 

Nov. 7, 2012. Newly graduated Afghan police officers demonstrate their skills during a graduation ceremony at a National Police training center in Laghman province, east of Kabul. (photo: Rahmat Gul—AP) 

From President Obama’s reelection and Superstorm Sandy’s aftermath to a deadly earthquake in Guatemala and a train cemetery in Bolivia, TIME presents the best photographs of the week.

See more photos here. 

Oct. 26, 2012. U.S. soldiers prepare for a night foot patrol in a COP (Combat outpost) Sar Howza in Paktika province, Afghanistan. (photo: Goran Tomasevic—Reuters)

From the devastation of Hurricane Sandy and Eid al-Adha celebrations around the world to the final week of campaigning for the 2012 U.S. presidential election and a suspected smuggler’s jeep perched atop the U.S.–Mexico border fence, TIME presents the best images of the week.

See more photos here.

A soldier rides a donkey in Nineveh, Iraq. 2006. (photo: Peter van Agtmael)

Magnum photographer Peter van Agtmael has received the 2012 W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography. The annual grant aims to recognize a photographer who has “demonstrated an exemplary commitment to documenting the human condition in the spirit of Smith’s concerned photography and dedicated compassion.”

Read the story and see more photos here.

Oct. 1, 2012. An Afghan refugee girl stands next to her family’s sheep in a field next to a slum area on the outskirts of Islamabad. (photo:Muhammed Muheisen–AP)

From the U.S. presidential debate in Denver and a ferry disaster in Hong Kong to Europe’s unbelievable Ryder Cup comeback in Illinois and a tiger cub at the Shanghai Zoo, TIME presents the best pictures of the week. 

See more photos here.

Sept. 25, 2012. A picture, taken on Sept. 19 and recently made available, shows a 4-day-old baby girl discovered by a Polish anti-bomb squad at a roadside in Ghazni, Afghanistan. The girl, named Pola, has been entrusted to Afghanistan State authorities, according to a Polish military spokesperson. (photo: EPA/ISAF)

From the NFL touchdown controversy in the U.S. and Israelis observing Yom Kippur to China’s first aircraft carrier and surfing with dolphins in Australia, TIME presents the best images of the week.

See more photos here.

A soldier sits on his bed at a Combat Operating Post in the south of Logar Province, Afghanistan. September 2009.

The Homecoming Project uses photographs to illuminate the ongoing issues of veterans from the past decades’ wars.

See more photos and multimedia here.

July 29, 2012. A woman gestures during the Holi festival in Berlin.

From protests in Yemen and a religious festival in Nicaragua to continued fighting in Syria and the summer Olympic games in London, TIME’s photo department presents the best pictures of the week.

See more photos here.

July 20, 2012. Orlando Duque of Colombia dives from a rock monolith during the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series at Islet Vila Franca do Campo, Azores, Portugal.  

From drought-cracked earth in Yemen and massive floods in China to violent protests in California and Olympic preparation in London, TIME’s photo department presents the best images of the week.

See more photos here.