Lodder nets Corps Top Shot award

Cpl. Sharadan Reetz (left), 19, from Indianola, Iowa, and Lance Cpl. Jarrett Hatley, 21, from Millingport, N.C., a squad automatic weapon gunner and an improvised explosive device detection dog handler with 3rd Platoon, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, rest next to Hatley’s dog Blue after clearing compounds with Afghan National Army soldiers during Operation Tageer Shamal (Shifting Winds) here, Jan. 4. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Reece Lodder)

Readers of Marines Blog voted, and 2012’s Corps Top Shot comes from member Cpl. Reece Lodder.

Corporal Reece Lodder, a combat correspondent, captured this photo in January 2012 while helping to clear houses of insurgent activity during Operation Tageer Shamal (Pashto for “Winter Offensive”) in Helmand province, Afghanistan. After being inserted into a remote desert town by helicopter with fellow “America’s Battalion” Marines from Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, patrolled for five hours before briefly stopping to rest in a dirty, abandoned, mud-walled compound. For more story go here.