Posted on Aug 16, 2021
SSG Carlos Madden
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I can't say I'm surprised that this is all happening. Right now I'm just sad and frustrated.
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MSG Chuck Cline
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We have walked away or simply lost the last 4 major conflicts since WWII. The leaders(?) need to quit wasting our military on wars they don't seem to be able to win. Obviously we didn't learn anything from the Russian efforts in Afghanistan. Now the same thing has happened to us. I think it is past time for the US to stop meddling in racial or religious conflicts.
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SGT Senior Underwriting Field Service Representative
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I'm sad for those Afghans who wanted to bring about change. I'm angry for the girls who are being robbed of a future where they can live unoppressed. I'm disgusted that we couldn't (wouldn't) do more to help those Afghans who helped us, and in their moment of need, we abandoned them. I pray that God has mercy on all of them.
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Capt Matt Linker
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I think many of us have the same thoughts that this was always how it would end up. It makes me stop and think about my own time there and wonder what it was all for. I’m sure many of us know people who returned broken, physically or mentally, or didn’t even return at all. Many of us would be in that category ourselves. And did any of us do it because we believed we were really going to change the soul of a nation? I think I wanted to believe it. I wanted to believe in an Afghanistan where human rights were valued. And honestly, my heart goes out to the Afghan people who are so desperate to flee the country that they are clinging to airplanes—that is a terror that no person should have to endure. So, in summary…the whole thing sucks?
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PO2 Gene Clark
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Im sick and tired of the media lying to the American people and the removal President Trump had in place would have worked ,Un real. My heart is with all the veterans that sacrificed so much over there. Lets never forget Benghazi people need to be held accountable for that as well!
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LTC John Shaw
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Confused and dejected best describes my mental attitude right now. It is clear our leadership across four administrations never really had a plan to shape the Afghan environment. I hope this is the end, but it may not be. It all depends on the Taliban and if they choose to export terror to the Western world, isn't that why we went there?

This loss is on all of us, it is not a political party thing, we need to stop with the blame casting and just accept the real world as it is. We talked about the long war but didn't really operate to that strategy. We had our one year plan for 20 years. accepted that in most cases the Afghan forces were broken, their leaders were corrupt, we had no ability to change them but we pretended that we were.

I served in KAF / Kandahar 2010 - 11 during the Afghan surge. I remember being proud of serving and trying to create something better than the $hithole we arrived in. I am an optimist and generally pragmatic. If I walk into a room with a big pile of crap, I will dig through the 'stuff' to find the pony, clean the pony up and count it a win.

KAF was literally the Russian poop pond smell all over the place and moon dust in everything. It wasn't long before the operational grind of the place just made it that much more of a suck. The year was a blur of trying to find enough people for RSOI and security operations: rockets, suicide attacks, IEDs, ramp ceremonies and casualties. I hoped for the best each day and just wanted to make it to the next day and try again.

I have no idea what to say to my family when they ask how I feel. I really have no idea of how to explain the sacrifice of our peers. I think of the Gold Star families and Blue Star families who serve now. I want the best for the Afghan men, women and children who believed their lives would be different. I pray that as many who want to leave will get out. For most of the Afghan people who can't leave and must live under the Taliban rule, God help them, because we no longer can.
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SP5 Pat Hughes
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Same s--t show as Vietnam 1975 where people were holding onto the runners on the slicks.
Today we have abandoned the people who helped us we are leaving them to be slaughtered by the Talaban
What have we learned?
Not a darn thing and if something like this happens again I would expect no help from the locals.
Now on to the Afgan Army, they folded like a cheap suit and we spent 80 billion dollars to train them .just like the ARVN forces, but we knew or at least I knew the would run at the first round being fired during a firefight
Sick of this crap. Sick how we treated our help.
Sick of the current administration announcing we are pulling out, so long good by make it on your own now
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AN Ken Adams
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This is a political football. Remember Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and now Afgahnistan. We fight until the country gets tired and there is no advantage to the political indiviuals,and then we leave our equipment and pull out. Someone should be held responsible for the deaths of our personell while there, and now the deaths caused by going back. I'm proud to be a Veteran of the US Navy, but I feel sorry for my brothers and sisters that are serving now. It seem, they won't let us win a war!!
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2LT Thomas Bertelsen
2LT Thomas Bertelsen
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Desert Storm looks like an anomaly to me. We left behind some tents that were contaminated.
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SSgt Jeri Foley
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Edited >1 y ago
I support the President in his decision completely. What really pisses me off is all the civilians in the news that are quick to point out all the faults. How many times are they going to throw Biden under the bus before they have satisfied their blood lust? I cannot say that I support everything the President does but at least he had enough balls to make a very hard decision like this. And here are some more of my 2 cents - if one of the congress's grandchildren had been shot at one of the schools, do you think the gun laws would have changed? I am not against guns, but we all know that a lot of times the "bad" people ruin it for the "good" people. Just like this virus crap. Look what's happening now because the government is such a bunch of pussies that they couldn't mandate that everyone get the shot. Well, I hope the nonvaccinated are enjoying their "freedom" while their children get the virus and die. How's that working out for you?
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1SG Signal Support Systems Specialist
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1SG (Join to see) - True. But you cannot deny the others have blame as well.
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1SG Signal Support Systems Specialist
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1SG (Join to see) - And if it wasn't Biden it would have been another president.
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1SG Civil Affairs Specialist
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1SG (Join to see) - Woulda shoulda coulda.
Biden is the President. He caused this. We will never know what a President Beto or Warren or Sanders would have done.
But it is hard to imagine any of them would have screwed it up worse.
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1SG Signal Support Systems Specialist
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TSgt Ann Smith
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Someone insinuated that Biden moved the date to August so that we'd be all cleared out and squeaky clean by the 911 anniversary. Gross! You think he did this so he can have a sweet 911 remembrance day under his belt? Totally in bad taste now. Backfired. He needs to forget ALL about a 911 ceremony now!
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SA Carisa Doughty
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Pissed, feeling betrayed, and disheartened. First to just up and leave with no thought of the American civilians they were leaving behind. Nevermind the Afghani people. For the past twenty years they were able to "breathe". Now our fucking weak ass President takes away their "oxygen". Unfuckingbelievable. I tell everyone now. I am a proud American and I love my Country. But this isn't the America I know anymore. So sad.
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