America's Minutemen in the Final Minutes of War

     The war in Afghanistan was a controversial one from the start. While I was not a part of it when it began, or even at its height. I was a part of its end. I think that many veterans who were apart of its beginning and or height are doing an excellent job of explaining their feelings and opinions on how their war ended, which they certainly should. What I feel like is being overlooked, is how we feel, those of us who were on the ground in its final moments. 

    For us the war in Afghanistan was something that was on tv during our childhood, we would see stories and veterans come home from it but we didn't really know about it. We knew that there were bad guys there who our soldiers were going after, but that was pretty much the extent of it. For me, I always knew I would be a soldier, it was my only life goal and dream. As I grew up I began to worry that my generation would not have a war, that the war in Afghanistan or Iraq would have ended by the time I was ready to go. By luck, or fortune, or something else entirely, it was not. 

    Before the summer of 2021, I had submitted two voluntary requests with my Army National Guard unit to be deployed. With the first being denied I was devastated, when the second one was approved it felt like a dream coming true. I was told I would not be going with my own infantry unit but an artillery unit, which was also from Massachusetts. The 1st Battalion 101st Field Artillery Regiment, one of our nations oldest military units with an origin pre-dating the American Revolution. I was honored, I was humbled and most of all, I was stoked. 

    To make things even cooler for me at the time, we landed in Kabul, Afghanistan on the Fourth of July. Our new home and domain was USEK, the United States Embassy located in the city. What I did not know was that it would soon become the hotspot of the entire war. Our job was not glorious, far from badass, and sometimes it was honestly boring. Being tasked with manning massive air defense guns isn't the dream an infantryman has when he thinks of war, but it was my reality. The C-RAM LPWS guns were definitely awesome to observe, their massive size was only outdone by the way they fired. If you haven't seen one, or have no idea what I am referring to, YouTube it! 

    Without turning this post into a memoir, I will jump to the conclusion and my main point. When the Embassy fell we were flown to HKIA, the airport which found itself all over the news in America by that point. For us on the ground, we envisioned this defiant last stand which we be apart of. A last punch in the face to the Taliban, our moment to prove ourselves as Americans in this war. What actually happened was a bit more quaint. Yes, there was rockets and small arms fire in with which we were engaged. But, there was no real knockout blow delivered by us. We were being flooded with texts and emails from friends and family back home, which said that they were watching all of it happen on the news. It was shocking to imagine, it felt good to know that people cared, for about a second. All we thought at that time was what those who fought before us felt. Those soldiers, marines, airmen and sailors who had been involved at some point in the past 20 years. Did we let them down? Would they be ashamed of us? Were we just a part of America's failing grip in Afghanistan? Had we let everyone down? What would the people of Afghanistan remember about American troops? Our 20 year long effort to give them back their country, or our abrupt abandonment? 

    I still have no idea, there is no answer for those questions, at least not from me. The only people who can answer those questions, are those who came to Afghanistan before I did, and those who remain in Afghanistan.

Kyle

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