For sixteen years, the US military has been at war in Afghanistan. The guests on this episode were there at the very beginning. Jason Amerine and Mark Nutsch were both Army captains and in command of the first Special Forces detachments on the ground in Afghanistan in 2001. They share stories from the earliest days and weeks of what would go on to become the longest war in American history.
In 1968, after one season as a professional football player, Rocky Bleier was drafted by the Army and sent to Vietnam. During a firefight,...
In 2012, Sean Marquis was an infantry platoon leader—deployed to Dehqobad, Afghanistan—with a Stryker brigade. The boundary between the platoon's area of responsibility and...
In 2014, Master Sgt. Raymond Collazo was a platoon sergeant deployed to eastern Afghanistan. Just weeks into his unit's deployment, the platoon was on...