So much loss of life is what is standing out for me today,
in the longest war that the United States has ever been in. Vietnam is very close in second place in
duration, we spent 19 years and four months. Compared to 19 years 10 months for Afghanistan. Just as comparatives, the Revolutionary
war where we fought for our very country lasted 8 years 5 months and we had
very little by way of technology to fight that war. WW2 was a scant 3 years, 8 months, WW1 was 1
year, 7 months.
Russia spent 9 years and one month in Afghanistan starting
in 1979. They lost in the neighborhood
of 15,000 troops with 35,000 injured. 35,000
Russians officially injured, wow. Since we arrived in Afghanistan, nearly a quarter of a million people, including everyone on all sides, have died. Somewhere north of 70,000 of them were civilians.
2448 American military (as of April
2021) and another 3846 American contractors. Over 1,000 NATO and allied forces, over 400
aid workers, and 72 journalists
We sent over 775,000 American service men and women into
that country over the time we were there.
I have read stories of fathers and
sons both serving there, sometimes at the same time. I ask you to ponder that for a moment and let it sink
in. 384,000 of them did at least one tour, 222,000
did two tours and nearly 100,000 did three.
40,000 did four tours, 16,000 did five and over 1,000 did more than 5. More than 5 tours, these Brothers and Sisters deserve
even more credit. I mean even the
freaking coast guard was there for fucks sake!
The numbers we claim were injured are closer 21,000 but I would
argue strenuously that number is 100% complete bullshit. War is
hell as we have heard and EVERY SINGLE service member who spent time there was
impacted (injured) in one way or another whether the wounds were visible or
not. My heart of with you hero’s who struggle every day and I pray to the
universe that you don’t wind up being one of the 22 every day who decide, for whatever
horrific reasons, to take their own life.
Think about the rippling effects of that number, 775,000
service men and women. A big ole bunch
of them had two parents, probably some siblings. A big ole bunch had spouses and children, there
were many, many friends and loved ones. If every service member had just 5 people who cared
about them that is 3,875,000 who were impacted, in one way or another, by the
down stream effects of the war there. Then
think about all the folks who took care and are taking care of our veterans, hundreds
of thousands more folks impacted. I
simply cannot imagine any American does not know someone who was there or who
was impacted by the down stream effects.
Then we get to the money, because that is always in the mix
in one way or another. The US has spent a
big ole bunch of money. The defense
department is north of $820,000,000,0000 and reconstruction projects by other
government agencies have spent north of $131,000,000,000. Germany and the UK have sunk nearly $50 billion
and NATO spent about $72 million worth of supplies and equipment. All dumped into a country roughly the size of
Texas. Afghanistan is 252,071 square
miles and Texas is 268, 956 square miles.
I cannot help but wonder why. Why did so many have to die? Why did so many have to be injured, visible
or not? Why did so much money need to be
spent? Why all the suffering? This makes
me sad, sad for the world as no one I suspect was left unscathed in one way or another
by this war.
While I am overjoyed that our direct involvement is over and
super saddened by what this means for the loved ones of those who lost their lives. What does it mean for those families who are
living with the injured service members, some severely injured. I am saddened by the thought of all my
Brothers and Sisters who lost best friends, who lost good people they loved and
respected both up and down the chain of command. I just cannot imagine the confusion and pain that
they must be left with, what was it all for?
I am also super saddened and afraid about the progress made for women in Afghanistan, that has come to an end and the burqas will be right back. Not sure if the personal freedoms of women there is the saddest thing but it has to be near the top of the list. Imagine gaining that level of freedom and then have it yanked away. Who do ya think they will blame, the Taliban? The United States? ANYONE else who brought them a false hope of a future that is simply not to be. And we wonder why so many in the middle east hate the United States, how many times would it take you getting the rug pulled out before you rose up in rebellion? It just fucking saddens me!
How did fighting there strengthen our place in the world? How were we protecting our freedoms here at home? How have we made the world a better place
due to our leadership? I don’t have
those answers, I don’t think those answers exist truth be told – at least not
to normal folks. Now for those who profited
from it, that is a different story. Those
whose purpose to build war fighting things, planes, tanks, bombs, guns and all
the rest – now they probably don’t have any issues, other than the cash cow teat
just dried up – hopefully.
They are the likes of Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies,
General Dynamics, Boeing, Northrup Grumman round out the top 5 with a total of
158,000,000,000 in contracts with the defense department. Be wary in the coming months and years for a
new enemy to miraculously appear that will require the services of these
companies. You can predict it but watching
the stocks of these companies, they will hit a point and their lobbyists will go
to work with a campaign that will be even easier to perpetrate now we have the insidiousness
of social media – WATCH OUT FOR IT!
So what are lessons, what are the takeaways from all of
this. Well we have all heard that if you
don’t understand history you are bound to repeat it. There are a lot of debates about the
attribution of that phrase. The Irish statesman
Edmund Burke is often misquoted as having said, “Those who don’t know history
are destined to repeat it.” Spanish philosopher George Santayana is credited
with the aphorism, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat
it,” while British statesman Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn
from history are doomed to repeat it.”
Regardless who said it first or best what will our lesson be
here? We OBVIOUSLY did not learn a
fucking thing from the second longest war, Vietnam. What will stop us from a three peat of the absolute
misery that is war? So many pictures coming out of Afghanistan that I have seen
before as Saigon fell. Another time we quit
because of whatever reasons, what the fuck.
Another instance of what in the fuck were we doing there in the first
place. One does not have a shitty exit
from a shitty situation if one does not play in the shitty game in the first
place.
I wonder if we will ever learn that Democracy can NEVER work
as a top down approach. Democracy can
ONLY work when it comes from a ground swell of the people. There are more than enough examples of that to
prove it. I wonder where the lines are
about leading in the world with American values starts and where it stops. We cannot be the police for the world, that much is clear. I wonder if we ever learn that regardless of
what we might think about how a country governs itself, it is their’s to govern – period.
I mean the very tenants of our country talk about freedom –
that means the right to choose and do as we want. Shouldn’t that hold true for others in other
countries? Where is the line, when do we go in to make a difference
and where is the line where we walk away and not get involved? As a Proud
American and Veteran I struggle with this one. If the
majority of Afghanistan people support the Taliban and their rule than who are
we to interfere? I think the speed at
which they took their country back is evidence that most want that in their
country.
But the suffering and oppression, especially of women, how
do we reconcile that? I have no
idea! One thing I know is that we cannot
go back and change our involvement in the war in Afghanistan so maybe it is
more of a theoretical argument left to the scholars to sort out in the decades
ahead. There will be no lack of opinions
on that I am sure. The lessons learned are
for preparing you for what is next and what we do next time something like Afghanistan
pops up.
I am praying to universe that it does not happen but I suspect it will, even in my lifetime. I mean why wouldn’t I? The United Stated has been at war with someone for 222 of our 239 years of existence. I am by no means an isolationist but I really do feel we the people ought to be a HELL OF A LOT MORE VOCAL when our elected officials want to engage in these sort of my dick is bigger than your dick arguments turned into a shit load of war which has really only benefited those building the war fighting staff.
I am saddened and confused.
My heart goes out to all of my Brothers and Sisters who served there. My heart goes out to all of my Brothers and Sisters
who died there. My heart goes out to all
of my Brothers and Sisters who came back broken or injured, seen and unseen. My heart goes out to all the families of
those brave military members. My heart
goes out to all the friends of those brave military members.
We should EXPECT better and we ABSOLUTELY deserve better and should DEMAND better from our elected officials! We need to get them out of the pockets of those in the military industrial complex that Dwight Eisenhower warned us about way back in the 50’s. I am sickened and saddened by it all, they loss of life, the waste of money, the inability to learn from our past, all it!
Ya know I’m sure President Biden will take a shellacking for pulling our troops out. But if we remember back President Bush couldn’t get us out in his second term, which I recall he said he would. President Obama couldn’t get it done either, in either term, even though he said he would. president Trump said he would as well, and couldn’t get it done. So before we cast a bunch of stones at the current dude I just remind us other said they would and we supported them for saying it. At least this one had the courage to do it, and he will no doubt pays high cost for that decision.
I feel like I have more words, but I am going
to stop here.
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