Taking a minute to talk to local children, U.S. Army Sgt. Jared C. Johnson, a combat engineer team leader from Beaufort, S.C., assigned to Company A, 1st Special Troops Battalion, Task Force Spartan, jokes with them during a recent patrol in Bodi Kot in eastern Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, Jan. 15. Johnson grew up in a town of about 500 residents and said he likes the small villages here.