By Leigh DeBord
Every veteran feels the weight of Afghanistan. Being a part of the military is a formative experience and when we are in the military, national security is our profession. When we take off the uniform, many of us still are invested or interested in matters of national security, especially because Afghanistan is our war. It feels personal.
As we honor the 20th anniversary of 9/11/2001, it’s impossible not to think of where we were on that life-changing day. Regardless if we were already on active duty, in college growing closer to our commissioning date, or a child, we all understood the world had changed in just a few hours. The images of the planes crashing into buildings, the lives lost that day—America was under attack. We felt compelled to defend our country and many of us spent years of our lives fighting for the men and women who lost their lives and for the families of the fallen. We wanted nothing more than to find whoever was responsible for those attacks and prevent any future ones from occurring.
We felt compelled to defend our country and many of us spent years of our lives fighting for the men and women who lost their lives.
Almost exactly twenty years later, we see the images of chaos at the Kabul airport, Afghans clinging to a C-17 taking off, and the last plane flying out of Afghanistan. Like the images of the planes flying into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon define 9/11, these images may be the images that define the war in Afghanistan in history books for years to come.
The military and the American public are experiencing an unexpected ending to a twenty-year war. The execution of the U.S. military’s exit out of Afghanistan has shocked Americans and created feelings of doubt, anger, grief, sadness and frustration across the active duty military, veterans, and the American public. There are some voices asking, what was all of it for? The way that this conflict ended hurts, but the blood and treasure that were sacrificed were worth it. It was not for nothing.
A generation of Afghan people grew up never knowing the rule of the Taliban. They were protected by American soldiers who exposed them to values of freedom and liberty. There are also many Afghans who lived through the fall of the Taliban. That group knows both oppression and freedom, and prefers the latter.
The fall of Afghanistan into the hands of the Taliban should concern every American citizen. The re-emergence of the Taliban as the ruling entity over Afghanistan threatens America’s national security and endangers the people of Afghanistan. But right now, it feels like the veteran and military community is much more attuned to the severity of this than the average American citizen. I have seen veterans and military personnel expressing frustration over the lack of concern and support regarding Afghanistan in comparison to more recent events of social unrest and humanitarian issues that have far less impact on the future and safety of America. It is a privilege to not worry about terrorism or what is going on in Afghanistan. And it was our service that gave our fellow citizens that privilege.
A generation of Afghan people grew up never knowing the rule of the Taliban. They were protected by American soldiers who exposed them to values of freedom and liberty.
Service members have a perspective that many Americans do not possess. This lack of perspective, in conjunction with fewer Americans serving in the armed forces, contributes to the civil-military gap that exists and has been exacerbated by this crisis. While it can be frustrating, we must remember that we chose to serve, and it was our honor. We put on the uniform so that someone else didn’t have to. The fact that there are Americans who are uninformed about the recent events in Afghanistan means that we did our job. We kept America so safe that the threat of an act of terrorism against the homeland never entered the minds of those we protect.
When the news anchors are asking, “What was all of this for?” remember that our effort was not for nothing. Our sacrifices kept Americans safe. We fought to keep the people in our units alive and return them home safely, and we gave a generation of Afghan citizens exposure to a life of freedom and liberty. We must be proud of those accomplishments.
Many of us have negative feelings about the way this war ended. We cannot dwell in negativity. Being angry and frustrated is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die. It is not healthy for us to dwell on these feelings and serves us no purpose. We need to acknowledge our feelings and then use them for good.
Over the last month, I have witnessed so many veterans and active duty military working to get Afghan allies out of Afghanistan to safer places. Many Afghan lives have been saved by these efforts. We are attempting to uphold our promise to our allies and keep their faith in America. For many of us, this is a chance to reflect on our service and what we stand for. We can only affect what is in our control and we can be agents of change and make a difference in our sphere of influence. We can use this as an opportunity to align ourselves with our purpose.
All of us who raised our hand in service to our country after 9/11 did what was asked of us and more.
The last few weeks have been difficult to watch, hard to digest, and leave us with a desire for answers we may never receive. It is overwhelming and can lead us into a pit of despair if we let it. All of us who raised our hand in service to our country after 9/11 did what was asked of us and more. We executed the orders given to us by our political leaders and generals. At the tactical and operational level, we won the war against terrorism. For the entire twenty years we served in Iraq and Afghanistan, there were no major domestic terrorist attacks on the scale of 9/11. Our efforts were not in vain and we should sleep well every night knowing for twenty years, we kept Americans safe.