Tag: military news

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It Is a Disheartening Time in Afghanistan. Many People Killed and Many still Stranded

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Military news…

It is still very disheartening in Afghanistan. Americans stranded. Afghan people being killed by the thousands. No signs of many getting out safe.

Afghans were clinging to the sides of U.S. military aircraft to escape the Taliban’s sweep of Kabul. Worst of all, some of them lost their lives falling from the aircraft as they left the runway. It’s only the latest in a terrible situation happening at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

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“Like many, I struggle to make sense of it all,” wrote Air Force Special Operations Command chief Lt. Gen. James Slife in a heartfelt Facebook post he penned about the fall of Afghanistan this weekend. Like many other veterans and service members, Slife spent a lot of time in Afghanistan, so it’s difficult to watch it all unravel before his eyes.

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M4 rifles, M24 sniper rifles, M2 .50 caliber machine guns and MRAPS make up only some of the vast quantity of U.S. military equipment captured by the Taliban in recent weeks.

“Now is the time where you bend the rules to save people’s lives.” That’s from Marine veteran Ryan Schalles, who’s prepared to bend a few rules of his own to get Omar, the man who served as an interpreter for his Marine Corps platoon during his 2012 tour in Afghanistan, safely out of the country.

You too can help Afghan interpreters and refugee. There are nonprofit groups trying to help Afghan refugees navigate the special immigrant visa process and find housing for new arrivals; and there are lawmakers with resources to get them moving sooner.
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American citizens and Afghans who worked with Americans are on their own if they want to get past the Taliban’s many checkpoints outside of Kabul’s airport. That’s because the U.S. military, the most powerful armed force in the world, isn’t prepared to send any of the 4,500 troops at the airport into the city to do it.

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It has been a tough week for me. I am so saddened by what is happening in Afghanistan. I feel helpless, and I am sure the people stuck there do to.

I see visions of Vietnam in my head constantly, only this is much worse. Our president struck out on his leadership. Not much of support from him.

We need a leader who won’t take what is happening there lightly, and go there NOW to help more.

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A reminder that I have slowed down my sharing of excerpts from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

A whole section of the book will be interviews with veterans who have been in the trenches. Some share about losing friends. Many had near death experiences. One WWII veteran had not one, but three near death experiences. Amazing story.

The book will come out soon.

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How is your life going? Do you remember lost friends from the military?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12,820 fellow veterans here who have your back.

If it’s just too much for you, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7. There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Do not live the death of your friends alone.

1-800-273-8255…texting 838255

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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Panic is High in Afghanistan, Especially at the Kabul Airport

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I told you I would keep you up dating on my SFC friend who is in harms way in Kabul, Afghanistan. The city has been over run. We have all seen the panic at the airport.

i haven’t heard from my friend in two days. Has me worried big time. She is part of the military that is the last in Afghanistan. She is a huge harms way situation. Please pray for her.

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Military news….


The Coast Guard belatedly commemorated its 231st birthday last week with a record offload of illegal drugs.

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For some reason, White House officials still believe the conquering Taliban will settle for a negotiated peace with the collapsing Afghan government, rather than total victory. Then again, when it comes to Afghanistan, U.S. presidents rarely like to face reality.

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The scene at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul has devolved into chaos as both Afghan and foreign nationals seek to flee Afghanistan amid the Taliban’s violent campaign to reclaim the country. Social media footage captured at the airport shows hundreds of people on the airport flight line, apparently blocking the take-off of at least one commercial airliner.

The Taliban captured Kabul on Sunday as former President Ashraf Ghani fled to neighboring Tajikistan, leaving Taliban fighters to occupy the presidential palace and mark the return of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan almost exactly 20 years after the United States initially invaded the country.

While President Joe Biden has ordered another 1,000 troops to bolster the roughly 5,000 U.S. troops already a the airport to help evacuate Americans who work at the Kabul embassy and some Afghans who have applied for visas, the U.S. embassy in Kabul warned on Sunday that the airport had come under fire amid the Taliban’s push into the city.

“The security situation in Kabul is changing quickly including at the airport,” the embassy said in a statement. “There are reports of the airport taking fire; therefore we are instructing U.S. citizens to shelter in place.”

The U.S. military’s focus right now is evacuating Americans from Afghanistan.

For Afghans, the prospect of getting a flight to another country is virtually non-existent for the foreseeable future. While Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has claimed that the evacuation from Kabul is “not Saigon” the U.S. government is once again leaving a country as tens of thousands of people in the capital are terrified of retribution from the new regime.

One Kam Air flight was apparently unable to take off because hundreds of people tried to board it.

“The runway of the airport was filled with a constellation of uniforms from different nations,” the New York Times reported. “They joined contractors, diplomats and civilians all trying to catch a flight out of the city. Those who were eligible to fly were given special bracelets, denoting their status as noncombatants.

Despite the panic that has engulfed the country in recent weeks, the Biden administration has held fast to its decision to rapidly withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan amid the worsening security situation there.

“When I became President, I faced a choice—follow through on the deal, with a brief extension to get our Forces and our allies’ Forces out safely, or ramp up our presence and send more American troops to fight once again in another country’s civil conflict,” Biden said in a statement on Saturday prior to the Taliban’s march on Kabul. “I was the fourth President to preside over an American troop presence in Afghanistan—two Republicans, two Democrats. I would not, and will not, pass this war onto a fifth.”

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The article about Afghanistan is heartbreaking. How could the president not know this would happen, and why hasn’t he been taking people out earlier. Many people will die now because the Taliban have no mercy.

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I shared with you a couple of posts ago, that I was cutting back on my excerpts from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

You can see some of them by searching the archives.

I will be sending the book to my publisher soon.

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What’s happening in your world? Do you have friends still in Afghanistan? Do you worry they will not make it home?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12,800 fellow veterans subscribed to this site. What don’t you join them by clicking on the subscribe button at the top of this page. When you do, all future posts will directly to your inbox.

If the days are just too much for you, GETHELP!

Here is a toll free number to call, 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. they will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never fear the world.

1-800-273-8255… texting 838255

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

___________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.

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A Soldier in Kabul, Afghanistan, is in Big Trouble. The City is Under Attack

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Military news…

First one is a little funny to me.

An 84-year-old man in Germany has been ordered to pay a fine of 250,000 euros after he was discovered to have an arsenal of World War II-era weapons in his cellar. The arsenal included a 40-ton Panther tank, one of the best tanks of the war.

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U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers and AC-130 gunships are back dropping airstrikes on Afghanistan in an attempt to stop the Taliban’s blitzkrieg throughout the country. But so far, it does not appear to be working: at least five more of Afghanistan’s 17 provincial capitals have fallen to the Taliban over the past week.

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will ask for President Joe Biden’s approval by mid-September to make the COVID-19 vaccines mandatory. But it might be a lot easier said than done.

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U.S. service members could face a range of punishments, including administrative separation and court-martial, for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes mandatory. Commanders have a “range of tools to try to help individuals make the right decisions,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday.

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Starting in October, the Air Force will break with decades of tradition by allowing its members to put their hands in their pockets while in uniform. The change is one of many grooming and uniform updates that loosen up restrictions for airmen (several of which involve hair).

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I have been connected with a SFC in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is fearful that the city will be over run soon. She is very brave to be one of the last of the military still there. However, if the city is finally overrun, she is in a big harms way. The Taliban have no sense of mercy, and she will be killed.

I will keep you updated. We talk daily.

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I saw a report on the new Apache helicopter. It will be awesome is much more deadly. It has tracking devices where no one can hide from them at all.

I have a buddy who was in Vietnam and he was a helicopter pilot. Great stories from him.

I am reminding you that I stopped sharing excerpts from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of th Trenches of Life.

If you want to read some of them, you will have to go to the archives to find them.

I am sure you will enjoy the book when it does come out. It is full of stories of my time in the military, and I share hope for those suffering from anxiety, fear, PTSD, TBI, and war wounds.

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How are you doing? Have the nights become too long with nightmares?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12, 760 fellow veterans here who have your back.

But please if you are too overwhelmed, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will never hang up until they know you are OK.

Never face another scary night!

1-800-273-8255….texting 838255

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

_________________________________________

+If you like what you see, please subscribe at the top of this page where it says, “subscribe.” When you do, all future posts will come directly to your inbox. Also, if you know some else who could benefit from this site, please let them know.