The loadmaster’s garbled voice called through the bellowing engines of the C-17 early Sunday, his message clear enough: We were heading into Afghanistan. It was dark out, and had been for some time, making it impossible to see Bagram Airfield sprawling out below us through the small, round windows high in the belly of the cavernous aircraft. We’d left Dover Air Force Base, Del., a day earlier, hours after the historic meeting between President Obama and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai in Washington, DC, in which they discussed the drawdown of U.S. forces. In a few hours, Air Force Times photographer…