We knew right away that we had to continue to stand by their side and so

really the resettlement is the short game like actually coming over to the

United States though chaotic and painful and full of dismay that was that's

just the beginning now they're in the United States navigating systems and

trying to go back to that unlimited potential that they had where they were

safe and in a country where they understood how to climb the ladder.

Welcome to How-To. I'm Amanda Ripley. The episode you're about to hear today

started months ago when I met this amazing group of women. Soldiers actually

for a story I was writing for Politico magazine. In Afghanistan a country where

you probably know women have limited rights there was actually this covert

unit of elite female soldiers known as the female tactical platoon. The

platoon was created by the U.S. military so that Afghan women could accompany

special operations forces on high-risk night-time missions targeting Taliban

and ISIS leaders. The platoon members purpose was to interview and search women

in children a job that male soldiers really could do in a Muslim country. In the

decade that the platoon existed the women conducted around 2,000 missions. It

was a phenomenal experience of just a really unique sisterhood of getting to

be these women working on the front lines in positions that you only dream of.

You hear a lot about the brotherhood of combat and war and it's I would say

almost even tighter being such a unique group. That's a U.S. Army captain we're

calling Ellie. She worked alongside the platoon members in Afghanistan. We're

not using her real name here because she's still on active duty and isn't

...