‘Every Life Is on His Hands’: Families of Service Members Express Frustration With Biden
Families of the U.S. service members who lost their lives in an attack near an airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, voiced their disappointment with President Joe Biden . In interviews with The Washington Post , families of…
Families of the U.S. service members who lost their lives in an attack near an airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, voiced their disappointment with President Joe Biden.
In interviews with The Washington Post, families of the service members detailed their experience with the president.
The Post noted Mark Schmitz, the father of Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz, did not want to hear about Biden’s son Beau.
Jared’s parents took out a photo to show Biden. Mark Schmitz told the president, “Don’t you ever forget that name. Don’t you ever forget that face. Don’t you ever forget the names of the other 12. And take some time to learn their stories.”
Biden replied, “I do know their stories.”
The family of Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum also wrestled with whether they wanted to meet Biden, as the Post reports.
In the end, only his widow, Jiennah McCollum, went in to meet with Biden. According to one of the sisters, Roice McCollum, Jiennah thought Biden’s words were “scripted and shallow.”
It lasted only a few minutes in “total disregard to the loss of our Marine — our brother, son, husband and father.”
Mark Schmitz acknowledged “it had to be one of the hardest things he’s ever had to do” but “you can’t run up and hug someone as if you had nothing to do with it. It’s not going to work that way when you’re commander in chief.”