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An Afghanistan Deployment and Its Aftermath
by Ben Kesling
A timely and searing account of the American war in Afghanistan.
In Bravo Company, journalist and combat veteran Ben Kesling tells the story of the war in Afghanistan through the eyes of the men of one unit, part of a combat-hardened parachute infantry regiment in the 82nd Airborne Division. A decade ago, the soldiers of Bravo Company deployed to Afghanistan for a tour in Kandahar's notorious Arghandab Valley. By the time they made it home, three soldiers had been killed in action, a dozen more had lost limbs, and an astonishing half of the company had Purple Hearts.
In the decade since, two of the soldiers have died by suicide, more than a dozen have tried, and others admit they've considered it. Declared at "extraordinary risk" by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Bravo Company was chosen as test subjects for a new approach to the veteran crisis, focusing less on isolated individuals and more on the group.
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 and training, through their deployment and a major shift in their mission, and then on to what has happened in the decade since; as they returned to combat in other units or moved on with their lives as civilians, or struggled to. This is a powerful, insightful, and memorable account of a war that didn't end for these soldiers just because Bravo Company came home.
"Journalist and Marine Corps veteran Kesling's gut-wrenching debut documents the physical and psychological tolls of the war in Afghanistan through the story of one U.S. Army unit's deployment...Devastating yet cautiously hopeful, this is an essential study of combat trauma." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"An urgent account of a parachute infantry regiment in Afghanistan...An outstanding narrative about a single unit's harrowing experiences in the 'forever war.'" - Kirkus (starred review)
"Gut-wrenching, emotionally charged...excruciatingly detailed...Bravo Company is that rare deep dive into the meaning of war and soldiering, the inevitable tragedies and trauma that accompany them, and what happens after you hang up the uniform." - Booklist
"Bravo Company is an honest account of bravery, sacrifice, and what it means to seek redemption. As a veteran of combat himself, Ben Kesling is able to intimately and honestly document war and its aftermath in ways others haven't. If you want to understand what war in Afghanistan meant to those who fought—or if you were in combat and want to understand more about yourself—read this remarkable book." - Jake Tapper, CNN anchor and author of The Outpost
"Bravo Company goes places other books don't. Ben Kesling captures not only war, but the way war puts the complexities and paradoxes of life itself in sharp relief, revealing to us the strangeness of memory and love and loss and honor and pain. Bravo Company is beautiful and profound." - Phil Klay, National Book Award-winning author of Redeployment and Uncertain Ground
"Why can't some veterans and survivors leave their wars in the past? How does the same experience become one person's bar tale and another's formative bane? With great skill and masterful reporting, Ben Kesling examines these questions and more in Bravo Company. War's long, dark tail emerges in all its terror and thrill here, summoning the old wisdom of the past not even being past. What a great book." - Matt Gallagher, author of Youngblood and Empire City
This information about Bravo Company was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Ben Kesling is a Midwest correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, where he focuses on domestic security and veterans issues. Kesling has a Master of Divinity degree from Harvard Divinity School, attended the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, and previously served as a Marine Corps infantry officer in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also a two-day Jeopardy! champion. He lives in Chicago with his wife and kids.
If you liked Bravo Company, try these:
by Bill Glose
Published 2022
For readers of Phil Klay, Kevin Powers, and Tim O'Brien: Dramatic, powerful, authentic short stories of soldiers fighting a "forever war," in combat and back home.
by Kim Barker
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A true-life Catch-22 set in the deeply dysfunctional countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan, by one of the region's longest-serving correspondents.
by Ishmael Beah
Published 2008
The devastating story of war through the eyes of a child soldier. Beah tells how, at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he’d been picked up by the government army, and became a soldier.
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