OPINION:
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It has been two years since the United States hastily pulled out of our 20-year campaign in Afghanistan. Twenty years of sacrifice from our troops and their families were wiped away in a matter of days. To add insult to injury, 13 of our service members lost their lives in a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport.
I know what it’s like to lose fellow service members in combat—and the impact it has on their families. When I served as a Green Beret in Afghanistan, my team lost five men to the worst friendly fire incident in the War in Afghanistan. As it turns out, an essential targeting tool on the B-1 bomber was not developed to detect the infrared strobes we wore to distinguish us from the enemy.
After my time in the Army ended, I fought in Washington, at first quietly and then loudly, to shed some light on the reason for the mistaken and ill-fated bombing. Failed meeting after failed meeting, deflection after deflection, it took years before a proper investigation and acknowledgment was met.
The same thing is happening now following the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Gold Star families who lost their loved ones at the Kabul airport have been demanding answers, even a simple investigation, for years, and not a word from our government. At a recent hearing on Capitol Hill, one of the Gold Star mothers who lost her son, a Marine, in the bombing said, “We were told lies, given incomplete reports, incorrect reports, total disrespect.”
The members of our Armed Forces and their families deserve better. Whether it be a faulty infrared optic on a B-1 bomber or the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan dismissing 20-years of sacrifice that our service members and their families made—we must recognize the sacrifices our service members have made in all circumstances. Weak leadership in Washington resulted in a haphazard withdrawal, which left 13 service members dead on our final day in the country, and in only weeks a Taliban-controlled country—undoing 20 years of sacrifice.
Our service members deserve better; their families deserve better; our country deserves better. On this second anniversary of the fall of Kabul and the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, do not forget the sacrifices of so many and the dire consequences created by weak leadership.
- Derrick Anderson is a former Special Forces “Green Beret” with 6 tours of duty overseas, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, and various countries throughout the Middle East. He currently serves in the U.S. National Guard and is a practicing attorney. Additionally, Derrick serves on the Advisory Council of Veterans On Duty. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the policies or positions of the United States Army, Department of Defense, the United States Government, or any other organization.
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