Two Soldiers, Ten Years

<p><i>This episode contains strong language and scenes of war that some may find distressing. </i></p><p>In 2010, James Dao, then a military affairs reporter for The New York Times, began following a battalion of U.S. soldiers headed for Afghanistan.</p><p>Two soldiers caught his attention: Adrian Bonenberger, a single, 32-year-old captain, and Tamara Sullivan, a 30-year-old sergeant and mother of two.</p><p>As President Biden prepares to withdraw troops from Afghanistan this fall, we revisit those interviews and follow up with the two soldiers.</p><p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/james-da">James Dao</a>, a National editor for The New York Times. </p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/signup/NTTD?smid=pc-thedaily">Sign up here</a> to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/newsletters/the-daily?module=inline">subscribe to our newsletter</a>. </p><p>Background reading: </p><ul><li>In 2010, over the course of the year, James followed one battalion’s wrenching deployment to Afghanistan.<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/world/27battalion.html?smid=pc-thedaily"> Read the beginning of his reporting here</a>.</li><li>An exploration of how decisions weighed heavily on<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/world/asia/21captain.html?smid=pc-thedaily"> Adrian Bonenberger, a junior officer</a>.</li><li>In 2011, after a year in combat, there were many<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/us/29soldiers.html?smid=pc-thedaily"> unexpected perils of coming home</a>. </li></ul><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.</p>