Tag: unfriendly world

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The Afghan War May Be Over, But its Scars Will Last Forever

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Military news….

The last U.S. military aircraft has left Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, marking the final moment of America’s longest war. The conflict left thousands of American troops and Afghan citizens dead and injured and shaped an entire generation of American service members.

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As the ground war in Afghanistan comes to an end, the military’s mission elsewhere continues, like in California, where Air Force Tactical Air Control Party members are helping firefighters battle wildfires. But they are not calling in airstrikes like they would in a combat zone. Instead, they are doing something much more useful.

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Sometimes good news comes in the strangest forms, like when a Navy challenge coin saved the life of an Oklahoma police officer by stopping the bullet that would have hit his femoral artery.

Even if Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss knew he would die in Kabul, he still would have deployed there, said his wife Alena, who survived Knauss after the Special Forces soldier was killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan last week. The 23-year-old was a remarkable man.

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My view…

Yes, the Afghan war is over, but its scars last for ever.

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Another reminder is that I have slowed down my sharing of excerpts from my upcoming book. Signs of Hope for the Military: In an Out of the trenches of Life.

Speaking of trenches, one of my sections of the book is called, Voices from the Trenches.

These will be actual interviews from soldiers who have been deployed to a foreign land. Many of the interviews were very hard for me to do. They talk about death. They talk about lost buddies.

They talk about near death experiences. Some are even funny.

Stay with me on this. Please go to the top of this page and click on “Subscribe.” When you do, all future post will come directly to your inbox.

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Is your world controlled by nightmares? Are there things you try to forget, but can’t?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12,900 fellow veterans here who have your back.

If the nightmares are overcoming you, GET HELP!

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

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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+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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Thirteen Soldiers Died in Afghanistan, and it Shouldn’t Have Happened

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Military news…

Speaking of Afghanistan: after two decades of war, American service members and Taliban militants have been standing within an arm’s length of one another outside the airport in Kabul.

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Thirteen American service members were killed on Thursday in suicide bombings at Kabul’s international airport in Afghanistan. The toll includes 11 U.S. Marines, a Navy corpsman and an Army special operations soldier. They came from Texas, California, Utah, Tennessee, Wyoming and many other places and walks of life, and they died helping strangers in a far-off country.

A horrific suicide bombing on Thursday near the Abbey Gate of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan killed hundreds of Afghan civilians, 11 U.S. Marines, a Navy corpsman, and an Army special operations soldier. Eighteen American military service members and many more Afghans were wounded in the attack, which took place at a crowded entry gate where U.S. troops were working day and night to rescue Americans and Afghans fleeing the Taliban.

“Terrorists took their lives at the very moment these troops were trying to save the lives of others,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. “We mourn their loss. We will treat their wounds. And we will support their families in what will most assuredly be devastating grief.”

However, Austin added, “we will not be dissuaded from the task at hand. To do anything less — especially now — would dishonor the purpose and sacrifice these men and women have rendered our country and the people of Afghanistan.”

Marine Corps Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the head of U.S. Central Command, attributed the attack to the Islamic State terrorist group operating in Afghanistan. Described as a “complex attack,” it was initiated by a suicide bombing outside of the Abbey Gate where U.S. troops manned checkpoints as Afghan civilians attempted to flee the country.

“The attack on the Abbey Gate was followed by a number of ISIS gunmen, who opened fire on civilians and military forces,” McKenzie told reporters.

The fallen service members were part of Operation Allies Refuge, the mission to evacuate American citizens and Afghans who assisted the U.S. and its allies during their 20-year war in Afghanistan. Earlier this month, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, the Afghan security forces collapsed, and the Taliban quickly took Kabul. Withdrawing U.S. forces and the Taliban then entered into an uneasy truce in Kabul, with Taliban fighters cordoning off the streets leading to the airport as American troops manned checkpoints leading inside.

Prior to Thursday, the last U.S. service members to die in Afghanistan by hostile fire were Sgt. 1st Class Antonio Rodriguez and Sgt. 1st Class Javier Gutierrez, two Army Special Forces soldiers who were killed by Afghan soldiers in a green-on-blue incident in Nangarhar Province on Feb. 8, 2020. For the Marine Corps, Thursday’s attacks represent the first loss of life in Afghanistan in two years. The last occurred on April 8, 2019, when three Marine reservists were killed by a roadside bomb in Bagram.

“These fallen heroes answered the call to go into harm’s way to do the honorable work of helping others,” said. Gen. David H. Berger, the commandant of the Marine Corps. “We are proud of their service and deeply saddened by their loss. As we mourn, we also keep those who are still over there protecting Americans and our Afghan partners at the forefront of our thoughts. Our Marines will continue the mission, carrying on our Corps’ legacy of always standing ready to meet the challenges of every extraordinary task our Nation requires of her Marines. I am continually humbled by the courage and warrior spirit exhibited every day by Marines across the globe. The sacrifices Marines make on behalf of freedom must never go unnoticed or unappreciated. I ask that you keep these Marines and service members, and especially their families, in your thoughts and prayers.”

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My view….

I am grieving as if I lost a family member. The oldest soldier was only 25. The youngest 20. Two were women. This shouldn’t have happened. We knew long before the disaster that we needed to get people out. As far back as July.

If we would have started then, we would have been able to get all the afghan people out that wanted to go, and all the Americans as well.

Now thousands of people will be stranded. They will face horrendous times with the Taliban. Many shootings and killings. One women was burned alive because she didn’t fix a meal they way the Taliban wanted her to.

We were way too late to start evacuating people.

Our leadership totally failed.

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Book coming out soon…

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

You can search the archives for some previous excerpts. My publisher has asked me not to share too much of the book.

You can still catch some I “slip,” in during the coming weeks. All you have to do is go to the top of this page and click on “Subscribe.”

When you do that all future posts will come directly to your inbox.

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Bed check…

How are you doing? Do the days seem dim, and the nights long?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12, 900 fellow veterans here who have your back.

If the long nights are 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 now you are OK.

1-800-273-8255… Texting 838255.

_____________________________________

Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above ll…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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Finally, The Outline of the Upcoming Book, Signs of Hope for the Military

+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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Military news…

A soldier with the Florida Army Reserve has a religious exemption to not only grow a beard, but also wear his hair long while in uniform.. Sgt. Jacob DePietro observes the Nazarite vow from the the Old Testament in the Bible, which states that “no razor may be used on their head.”

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+Report from Jeff Schogol on his trouble trying to get an Afghan interpreter way from his country. They are threatening these people ahead of the final withdraw.

“On Thursday, I received a series of frantic texts from Sher Ahmad Ahmadzai, an Afghan man who worked for coalition forces, after someone threw a Molotov cocktail at his home.” That’s from Jeff Schogol, who wrote this piece about his inability to help Ahmadzai and other Afghans who risked their lives to help the United States and are now in danger of being killed by the Taliban.

“This story is difficult to write because journalists are rightly expected to not get involved in the stories we cover, and the modicum of help that I have tried to provide to Ahmadzai clouds my objectivity,” Jeff writes. “In a way, I’ve already failed at my job.”
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When U.S. Marine Security Guards at American embassies around the world need backup, they call on the Marine Security Augmentation Unit. This may be your first hearing about the MSAU, but the unit’s been putting in a lot of flight time recently: in the past 30 days, the quick reaction force has responded to the call twice to protect embassies in Africa and the Caribbean.

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 A soldier with the 82nd Airborne Division is heading to a court-martial in connection with a murky incident in Syria last summer in which U.S. troops and pro-regime forces exchanged gunfire.

“We are all suffering in silence,” is how one soldier described the unseen problem of eating disorders in the U.S. military. The Army and other branches use outdated body fat measurements to judge soldiers’ fitness, which, when combined with PTSD, sexual trauma and other common military mental health issues, create a rampant eating disorder problem that has gone largely underreported until now.

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The U.S. may be leaving Afghanistan, but the ‘Forever Wars’ aren’t really ending, writes defense expert Bonnie Kristian in this guest op-ed. Despite his statements about leaving Afghanistan, ending support for the Saudi war in Yemen, and leaving Iraq, President Joe Biden’s plans for doing so remain vague, and you can stuff a lot of violence into an absence of details, Kristian argues.

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No excerpt today from my book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of Life.

What I am going to to is give you an outline of the book to give you a taste of what is coming:

  1. The first section will basic training. I have many stories there. Some funny some not so funny. Many things to talk about.
  2. The second section will be being deployed to Korea. Some very sad stories there, and few humorous.
  3. The third section will be my states side time at FT. Bragg. One very scary time there, but good vibes most of the section.

Then I will have two appendixes:

  1. Interviews from the trenches. I have interviews from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq. Many are heartbreaking. I also have an interview with a Gold Star mother I am working on right now. Pretty exciting.
  2. The second Appendix will be eight pages of resources for veterans. It will have every conceivable information you may be looking for.

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How are you doing? Do you fear sleeping? Have you seen enough of the turmoil we are facing in this world today?

FEAR NOT!

There are over 12, 550 fellow veterans here who have your back.

If the road is getting to rough for you, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number for you 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 face this not so friendly world alone!

1-800-273-8255, Texting 838255.

__________________________

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.