"My Dad is like the only one that I, like, practically love the most, right now..."

A soldier says goodbye to his two sons as he deploys back into Afghanistan...

You don't understand until you watch this.

From a friend in the military:

NY Times embedded a reporter with the 1st Bn 87th Infantry (10th Mountain Div.). The reporter started with them in the states, and stayed with them during much of their time deployed in Afghanistan in 2010.

The reporter covered quite a few aspects of their lives during this period, from getting ready to leave, family, actually going, doing infantry work in Afghanistan, all aspects.

The reason I have this link is that the 2nd Bn 18th IN (170 Brigade), Grafenvoehr, Germany, will be taking the place of the 1-87 IN next month.

If you want to spend a bit of valuable time learning what things are like for our deployed infantry folks, go here. It is a linked series of videos on each topic - start at the beginning (Going to War) - the series will automatically go from section to section if you let it run. There is a map of their FOB Kunduz in Afghanistan showing where they are, etc.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/battalion.html#/NYT/28

A Year at War:

Thirty thousand American soldiers are taking part in the Afghanistan surge. Here are the stories of the men and women of the First Battalion, 87th Infantry of the 10th Mountain Division. Over their yearlong deployment, The New York Times follows their journey.