From New York Times, I'm Michael Bobaro. This is a daily.

I'm leaving for Afghanistan sometime this morning.

There's nothing in the world I'd rather be doing.

I'm excited yet nervous at the same time.

Ten years ago, the Times began following a battalion of US soldiers

as they set off for a deployment to Afghanistan.

My main concern is whether or not I'll still be me when I get back.

I've promised everybody that I would come back and that's kind of a promise that I can't really keep.

Now, as President Biden prepares for a complete withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan this fall,

my colleague Jim Dow tells the story of two soldiers he met back in 2010.

And how America's longest war shaped their lives then and now.

It's Friday, May 21st.

So in 2010, I was a military affairs reporter for the Times.

I've been covering the war in Afghanistan, which at that point had been going on for nine years already.

And I'd seen how the US mission had spiraled well out beyond its original goal.

It went from defeating Osama bin Maad in the Taliban after the 9-11 attacks

to building a democratic government in Afghanistan.

And then by 2010, they were just trying to stabilize the place.

Car bombs and attacks by Taliban and other insurgents happened every day.

It was this feeling among many I talked to that the US needed to find a way to end its mission as quickly as possible.

And to do that, President Obama made a controversial decision.

He doubled down and sent more troops, some 30,000 more, into Afghanistan.

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