A year later, vets accept that they can’t save every Afghan ally

READ OF THE DAY

A year later, vets accept that they can’t save every Afghan ally
By Geoff Ziezulewicz
Aug 30, 09:33 AM
A U.S. Marine assists an Afghan man outside Kabul's international airport on Aug. 26, 2021. (Marine Corps/Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla)

It has been about a year since Phil Caruso and other veterans spent frenzied, sleepless weeks scrambling private flights into Kabul’s international airport to shepherd America’s Afghan allies out of the country before the Taliban reasserted control.

Gone are the days of last summer, when Marine Corps veteran Jeff Phaneuf called other Marines at the airport’s Abbey Gate, vouching for the Afghans he could vouch for, even as the rest of the huddled masses—without connections, or connections they could reach in their moment of need—were left to broil in the August 2021 heat.

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Lt Col Charlie Brown SSG Michael Noll Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Cpl Vic Burk SGT Charlie Lee SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth ] Sgt (Join to see) SFC Bernard Walko SPC Michael Terrell CPL Douglas Chrysler A1C Medrick "Rick" DeVaney GySgt Jack Wallace SGT Mark Anderson CPL LaForest Gray SFC David Reid, M.S, PHR, SHRM-CP, DTM PV2 Larry Sellnow PO2 Marco Monsalve SrA John Monette SGT Steve McFarland