In the last two weeks of the war, an ad hoc team armed with group chats, QR codes, and satellite maps launched a mad dash to save imperiled Afghan allies.
While the horror unfolded on Saboe’s phone, his wife, Nichole, sat huddled in the corner, listening to the children’s screams, the muzzle blasts, and a woman asking Saboe if he was trying to get them killed. Amid the shouting, he gathered a few details about their location, quickly cross-checked it on Google Earth, and determined that the Taliban were firing from a factory across the road. He told them to stay in the ditch and lie flat, face down.
The following day, the family approached another gate, only to return home again after being caught in a stampede that left the mother with a dislocated shoulder and two of the children and their grandmother with broken bones. Finally, on August 18, a friend in St. Louis named Zac Martin, who had served with Saboe in Iraq, returned from his day job in electric utility sales and secured the family a van that would be driven by a Special Forces operator.
The number of potential evacuees was also ballooning. Saboe had received a call from Jim Webb, a reporter forwho was writing a story about the efforts of Saboe’s growing team. When asked what his group was called, Saboe fumbled for a moment, before blurting out “Team America.” Webb asked if there was an email to which people could send requests for help and tips, so Dan Saboe created a Gmail account on the fly., August 17.
Later that day, while heading home from the mountains, Parker started receiving voicemails from other Afghan interpreters and fixers, asking if he knew anyone who could help. His phone number had leaked.
The group began to map out their connections, and within a couple of days they’d grown to nearly 30 members. Mostly retired and over 50, they named themselves the Graybeards. Soon the bulk of Parker’s days were spent trying to proselytize their work on Facebook and to the press before getting on the group’s nightlycall. By 10 pm US Eastern time, Afghanistan, nine and a half hours ahead, would begin to light up.
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