HIS LONG CAMPAIGN FOR A BATTLEFIELD PARTNER

CHICAGO - Barely half an hour had passed since the flight landed at O'Hare International Airport, and the Army combat veteran's palms were already sweating.

- Andrea Castillo

SPENCER Sullivan, left, hugs Abdulhaq Sodais after his former interpreter's arrival in Chicago on Dec. 17.

Spencer Sullivan, 38, situated himself at the front of a crowd of people waiting near the exit for international arrivals. He knew it could be hours before his friend got through customs.

Still, he said, "I've been waiting so long for this moment. I don't want to miss it."

American veteran worked for years to help his Afghan interpreter enter the U.S. At last, the friends did reunite.

It had been just over 13 years since Sullivan, who now works in corporate development, first began helping his former interpreter in Afghanistan petition for a visa to live in the U.S.

The process had been full of big hopes and bigger letdowns. Then, after they finally secured the visa in September, an Afghan immigrant was accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington.

In the politicized aftermath, Sullivan wondered: Would his After the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, teenage Abdulhaq Sodais enrolled in English classes with the goal of becoming an interpreter for coalition forces. In 2010, nearly a decade after the invasion, employment records show he was contracted by Mission Essential, one of the largest companies that supplied interpreters in Afghanistan to Western forces.

Sodais, 33, and Sullivan, then a platoon leader, met two years later at a military base in the remote Zabul province.

Together they would go on intel-gathering missions, talking to village leaders, scouting unfamiliar terrain and observing the Taliban from hilltops, where Sodais interpreted their radio transmissions for Sullivan in real time.

In December 2012, Sullivan returned to the U.S., though he and Sodais stayed in touch. The following year, the blast of an improvised explosive device left Sodais with a concussion and a bulging spinal disk. He returned to his parents’ home in Herat to recover.