NYT: A Year at War: One Battalion’s Wrenching Deployment to Afghanistan

The days before deployment are a time for rearranging lives. Wills must be drafted. Single parents send children to grandparents, uncles and aunts. Cars are stored, apartment keys returned, phone service canceled.

Sgt. Tamara Sullivan pulled out her cell phone charger and braced for a night of tears. She called her husband and children in North Carolina, ages 3 and 1 before departing for Afghanistan. She cried, hung up, called back and cried some more. This is just one of the faces of the troops heading for Afghanistan.

For the next year, the First Battalion, 87th Infantry of the 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y., will be living and fighting in Afghanistan, part of the additional 30,000 extra troops President Obama has ordered to the region.

Over the course of the next year, The New York Times will be visiting the battalion to chronicle its part in the surge and explore the strains of deployment on soldiers.

READ THIS STORY AT NYTIMES.COM