ATLANTA — U.S. veterans who served in Afghanistan, Iraq and the broader region over the past 20 years look at the deadly U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan with a perspective that is uniquely, and sometimes painfully, personal - after all that they sacrificed.
An Army vet in Atlanta says they all need everyone’s support now as much as ever.
Their lives define Duty, Bravery, Sacrifice and Honor.
“I ended up getting shot by a sniper,” said U.S. Army veteran David Kendrick, Jr., Thursday, recalling his unit’s service in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Three of his friends in the unit were killed in action.
"I was still recovering from my own injuries, but I wanted to get back into the fight, myself,” Kendrick said.
Kendrick, who now lives in DeKalb County, is proud of the U.S. mission over there the past 20 years.
And yet, “It’s almost unbelievable to see that we’re still losing soldiers in the same way, and almost still fighting this same fight against terrorism.”
Thursday afternoon at the White House, President Joe Biden extended his condolences to the families of the latest service members killed there - killed in the suicide bombings in Kabul during this withdrawal.
And the president had a message for the ISIS-K terrorists behind the attacks.
“We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay," he said.
Kendrick tries to piece together how it all came to this.
“What I would have loved to see is the Afghan army that we trained for the past 20 years put up more of a fight than they did,” Kendrick said. “They didn’t even put up a fight, and that’s what’s so discouraging, really a slap in the face, to all the soldiers who helped train them and lost lives fighting for their freedom and their independence, for them not to even put up a fight, it’s almost a slap in the face to every American that’s lost lives over there.”
Kendrick works to provide resources to veterans who are battling PTSD and other mental health issues.
He said it is not easy for vets, especially, to watch it all end there like it began there.
“Here we go again. You know? The oppression against people - the oppression against women - these terrorist regimes that want things their way, and they want their own people to live in fear," he said. "It’s something that is very horrible to see. However, at the same time, America can’t be their police force, and we can’t keep on putting our soldiers in harm’s way.”
Veterans like Kendrick are hoping that their Duty, Bravery, Sacrifice and Honor were not wasted in a cause as noble as it was all-but-impossible to achieve.