US Service Member Talks About Afghanistan Withdrawal: I ‘Wrestle to Make Sense of My Service’
Service member Chase Spears shared his experience with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying it “brought a rush of memories and deep sadness that persists to this day.” In August 2021, the U.S. completed its…
Service member Chase Spears shared his experience with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying it “brought a rush of memories and deep sadness that persists to this day.”
In August 2021, the U.S. completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan.
In a piece published by The War Horse, Spears noted that he arrived in Afghanistan in 2011.
“I hoped that our brigade could play a small part in bringing justice to those who’d committed horrible crimes, peace to a war-weary populace, and security for the U.S. homeland,” Spears wrote.
He recalled that the “images of desperate Afghans swarming to flee Kabul at the end of the mission filled me with a painful sense of loss.”
Spears explained that he felt as if he was walking “in a fog, filled with a sense of grief more akin to losing a loved one.”
He mentioned a poll showed that a majority of American Military