Bravo Company: An Afghanistan Deployment and Its Aftermath

A timely, powerful, and sweeping portrait of a company of men who went to war in Afghanistan, their troubled deployment, and their lives in the decade since returning homeTen years ago, the 100 soldiers of Bravo Company, a combat hardened parachute infantry regiment, deployed to Afghanistan for a nine-month tour in Kandahar’s notorious Arghandab Valley. During the deployment, three soldiers were killed in action, and a dozen more lost limbs. By the time they went home, an astonishing half of the company had Purple Hearts.But Bravo Company’s story didn’t end when they came home. In the ten years since, two of their members have died by suicide, more than a dozen others have tried, and others admit they’ve considered it. Bravo Company’s traumatic tour and high suicide rate led to its veterans being declared by the Veterans Administration to be at extraordinary risk of succumbing to addiction, isolation, and suicide. As a result, the men were chosen as test subjects for a new approach to suicide prevention, focusing less on isolated individuals and more on the group. In Bravo Company, journalist and veteran Ben Kesling tells the story of war and its aftermath through this one representative unit and its men. Written with an insider’s eye and ear, and drawing on extensive interviews and original reporting, Bravo Company follows the men from their initial enlistment, training, and deployment through what has happened in the decade since; as some returned to combat, others moved on with their lives, while others struggled to. And it will chronicle the extraordinary public and private efforts to fix what’s broken, find peace, and build a future.