Kajaki Dam, Afghanistan – Marines from Weapons Company, 1st Battalion 8th Marines have spent months searching for enemy weapons caches and fighting positions in the mountains and valleys around the Kajaki Dam in southern Afghanistan.

But in late June they discovered something they were not prepared to find: a dinosaur.

According to Sergeant Mark Stahlberg, an 0352 TOW Gunner, his patrol had set off on a routine mission to investigate a tip about a weapons cache in nearby Zamindawar, a known Taliban stronghold.

"The whole area is full of these 'karezes', or tunnels, and we've been finding a lot of rockets, mortars, and IED components in them," said Sergeant Stahlberg. "So when we got a hit on our metal detector we figured, you know, time to call EOD and sit tight."