Mo News: Collapse of Afghanistan: A Veteran's Story One Year Later

Mo News: Collapse of Afghanistan: A Veteran's Story One Year Later

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Hey everyone-

Next week will mark one year since the beginning of the chaotic & tragic U.S. exit from Afghanistan. The rushed withdrawal brought America’s two-decade long war to an abrupt end, allowing the Taliban to rapidly retake control of Afghanistan. The botched withdrawal also led to the deadliest day for U.S. troops in a decade--taking the lives of servicemen and women who were barely older than the war itself.

One year later, rescue groups are still trying to evacuate Americans and our allies trapped under Taliban control. Now, as we approach the one year anniversary, The White House is struggling to mark the milestone.

Mo News marks the beginning of our anniversary coverage with an interview today with a veteran with a new book out about his experience and his long, complicated recovery here at home.

Hundreds of Afghans desperate to escape the Taliban pack into an American military cargo jet from Kabul to Qatar in August 2021 | Defense One via NBC News

An Afghan baby is lifted to safety by a U.S. Marine in Kabul | Omar Haidiri via USA Today

Cost of the Catastrophic Withdrawal:

• The State Department and Pentagon say they directly evacuated or facilitated the evacuations of around 124,000 individuals, including about 6,000 American citizens.

• President Biden has described the mission as an "extraordinary success," although U.S. officials acknowledge that American citizens and thousands of eligible Afghans still remain in Afghanistan.

• Afghanistan’s economy collapsed after the Taliban’s takeover and the country suffers from widespread hunger and poverty. Women, who now have little to no human rights, were banned from attending school and a number of jobs. Millions of Afghans in extreme debt sold assets like homes, their kidneys, and in the most extreme cases, their children – in order to purchase food.

In this premium edition of Mo News, we spoke to former Army Staff Sgt. Benjamin Sledge, who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan during some of the most violent parts of the wars. He has a new book out, called "Where Cowards Go to Die," and speaks candidly about the trauma of war and the mental health toll it has taken on tens of thousands of veterans.

☕️ But first, a few headlines this AM before the interview...

• Jan 6 Charges? In an interview Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland did not rule out charges against former President Trump over the Capitol attack.“We pursue justice without fear or favor. We intend to hold everyone, anyone, who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding January 6, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable." Garland said.Some January 6th committee members are putting the pressure on Garland to prosecute the former President for inspiring the violence and then refusing to stop the insurrection. It comes as reports surface that the Justice Department is investigating former President Trump's actions as part of its criminal probe into the Capitol attack.

• Interest Rate Hike: The Federal Reserve today will announce its decision on how much to raise interest rates as it continues to try to lower inflation. It is expected to raise rates another ¾ percent – which would be the fourth hike in five months. The Fed will also indicate how many more rate hikes we can expect later this year. It’s attempting to raise rates enough to bring down inflation, but not put the nation in a recession.

• Brittney Griner Latest: The WNBA star is set to testify today as part of her drug trial in Russia. Yesterday, her defense team claimed the cannabis oil found in her luggage was there for medicinal purposes. Griner has acknowledged she was carrying vape canisters containing cannabis oil when she was arrested in February at a Moscow airport. But she contends she had no criminal intent, and that the canisters ended up in her luggage inadvertently.While marijuana is illegal in Russia, Griner’s defense team made the case that it was only used for medicinal purposes and she was officially prescribed it by a doctor. She faces 10 years in prison, if convicted.

• Rents Skyrocket: The Zumper National Rent Index hit another record – with the median monthly price for a newly listed one-bedroom apartment climbing 11% to $1,450 from a year ago.New York City topped the list as the most expensive market, according to the July report, up 41% over last year.The Top 5 U.S. Cities where the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment grew the most in the last year, are:1) Austin, TX, 108.2% increase ($3,257)2) Jersey City, NJ , 51.6% increase ($4,421)3) Tempe, AZ, 49.3% increase ($1,703)4) New York City, up 41% ($5,821)5) Salt Lake City, UT, up 40.5% ($1,671)The most affordable cities – with $700 or less monthly rents – are Akron, Ohio; Wichita, Kansas; and Lubbock, Texas.

Now, to our interview with decorated combat veteran Ben Sledge, who was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his valor overseas.

Like many, Sledge was thrust into combat after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. He's the author of the brand new war memoir Where Cowards Go to Die – a brutally honest portrait of war, bravery, and sacrifice.

It serves as a strong reminder that the wounds from war are not only physical, but mental, too. The 20-year War on Terror and the chaos that erupted in Kabul last August has left many of our veterans traumatized.

We hope that today's conversation (which is available in full on the Mo News Podcast) gives you a veteran's perspective into the Global War on Terror – and inspires you to check in on a veteran close to you.

Thanks,

Mosh

[The following interview has been edited for time and clarity. Our FULL CONVERSATION is available via THE MO NEWS PODCAST]

Mosheh Oinounou: Sledge, we last spoke on Instagram Live at the height of the mess of the Afghan withdrawal last year in 2021. You talked about what a toll the events were taking on you. Before we get started here, how are you processing it all a year later?

Benjamin Sledge: I'm good. My wife, shortly afterwards was like, 'you're kind of a crazy person,' you should probably do some counseling again. And I was like, alright, that's fair. So, I did that to kind of process what it was going through. It was crazy, though. I met all these other veterans who are going through the exact same thing. When Iraq fell, we didn't have that issue, but with Afghanistan we did. I found really interesting.

MO: So the book has a provocative title and it's not the typical title that you see for war books. You call it "Where Cowards Go to Die." Talk to me about that title and what inspired it?

BS: So what inspired it was really I was in Iraq, and I read the book, "I Am Legend," by Richard Matheson. I started working through what I had been through in Iraq and Afghanistan. I came to the conclusion that there were a lot of things that I did in combat that were not heroic. And there's a lot of things that people do in combat that are not heroic. We can get painted that way, but the reality of the situation was, as I came home, I buried a lot of it. And, it began to fester from the inside.

I came to the conclusion that in life, you'll either live as a coward or die as a coward because of the fact that you refuse to address that unresolved trauma. A lot of veterans are doing that. We head to the bottle, or we head to pills, or we get put on mood altering substances for the rest of our life, as opposed to confronting what we went through and growing stronger out of that. So my conclusion was is in life, a coward has to die either way. You either die as a coward, or you have to kill a coward inside you.

MO: What's been the reaction to the title among veterans?

BS: They really loved it, because I think most of us have been somewhat tired of the war genre books that have come out. I've gotten messages, emails, texts, you know, direct messages about like, "Hey, thank you for finally telling our story and the issues that I'm still dealing with to this day." And I think the most powerful moment for me is that I'm hitting, not just the global war on terror veterans, but Vietnam veterans as well. I had my friend's dad reach out. I never knew he was a Vietnam veteran. He was like, 'this really hit home for me, and what I experienced in Vietnam, and the stories that we didn't tell.'

MO: You served 9 months Afghanistan and you served 15 months in Iraq. I learned in the book that your grandfather served in WWII under General Patton--supplying his scotch! Tell me about what inspired you to join the military. Was it the family connection?

BS: We joke in the military that it runs in the blood. For my family lineage, we traced it as far back as a general under Napoleon. And, so it was just kind of something that you did in our family.

But, this is the real reason: I joined because I had to pay for college. And so it is 1999. Bill Clinton was president and it was a peacetime army. A lot of times, it was like the movie 'Stripes.' Bill Murray drinking and barbecuing. Then September 11 hits and everything changes. I go to language training at Fort Bragg. In 2003, we invade Iraq and immediately it's a dual-prong war effort. So they need half of our unit goes Iraq, and the other half goes to Afghanistan. And that's how I ended up in Afghanistan.

MO: The war in Afghanistan begins in the fall of 2001. In 2003, the U.S. then invades Iraq. Just after the launch of the war in Iraq, you get your papers, but you're headed to Afghanistan.

BS: It was really weird, because I thought for sure, I'd be going to Iraq. We're like, 'oh, we thought we were done with Afghanistan.' But you had all those cross border operations, and you had Taliban and al Qaeda running back and forth from Pakistan and launching these attacks. So it was really, really violent, and everybody had kind of forgotten about that. They just assumed that I was sitting on a base and like, eating cake, in Kandahar. And I truly believe that's what a lot of the American populace thought at the time.

MO: By the time 2004 ended, seven men who had fought with were dead--three of them from your unit. That included your best friend Kyle. What is it been like to process those losses and and how did writing this book impact you process your experience there?

BS: I dedicated the book to Kyle because he wanted to be a journalist. That was his goal in life. When I dedicated the book to Kyle, I started thinking about all these other guys that had died too. You have to relive it and go through this. I found out that there's all the studies about the men and women who lose their friends in combat. Even some 30 years removed from the incident, their level of grief is the equivalent to somebody who has lost their spouse within six months. That camaraderie, that brotherhood, it weighs extremely heavy on your soul. I keep a picture of Kyle sitting next to me when I write, because I want to keep his dream alive.

MO: You've referred to Afghanistan as a toxic relationship--one that you want to let go of and you just can't.

BS: You know, my own blood is in the sand there. My friends have died there in the mountains. It's not healthy to dwell on that stuff, but you just can't seem to let go of that environment. And then when the fall happened last year, that was packaging it up in a neat little bow and being like, 'here's all your traumas just straight to you, gift-wrapped.'

Even a year removed, you're looking at it and Afghanistan is the largest humanitarian crisis on the planet right now. They're on the brink of famine. We cannot get our interpreters out. The Special Immigrant Visa process is an absolute nightmare. I truly believe the US government just doesn't want these people here. It's not that they can't do it, it's just that they don't want to. And I started working with different groups that are doing the work, including Afghan interpreters who've made it here to the United States. The amount of red tape is utterly ridiculous, even though the funding is pouring in to get these people out.

The tough part too, is still recognizing that the Afghan military just rolled over when the country fell.

MO: The U.S. invested tens of billions trying to build up the Afghan military. The Taliban took them out in a matter of weeks.

BS: Not even weeks. It was practically days. And now you watch Ukraine, and everybody's wanting to fight Russia. The Afghans are like "eh." And I think that's the tough part...they never really cared. There's never been a nationalistic identity. It's much more tribal, everybody just kind of wants to be left alone. And as long as the Taliban doesn't mess with them that much, they're comfortable.

MO: Were you surprised when you saw the country collapse the way it did?

BS: Nothing made sense in 2021. But, looking back at my time being out in the Afghan tribal areas--one thing that kind of clicked. I was like, 'they just don't really care.' As long as somebody who provides the power and infrastructure and the money to fund schools and whatever, then they're cool. I knew inevitably that it was going to fall.

The part that's utterly baffling is that the U.S. is the largest superpower in the world. We run the seas and we have the most prolifically advanced military in the world. We could have literally just told the Taliban, 'hey, go pound sand, we're going to use our eyes in the skies to drone strike you guys into oblivion because we can and will do whatever we want." And they literally could have done that.

Instead, we literally left Afghanistan like a dog with its tail between its legs. And that was so embarrassing on so many levels and I didn't think it would happen that fast. I don't think anybody predicted that it would happen as fast as it did.

MO: One of the things you get into in the book is the experience back at home. You talk about your mental health being impacted---that you have a purpose and a direction in the military---but then when you come home, you sort of lose your purpose. You write about being suicidal. You say that "war is a dopamine slot machine."

BS: It's always hard for me to admit because I always feel torn in two ways. First, I'm like, I love war. War is awesome. It's because it gave me such a profound sense of meaning and purpose. Then at the same time, I'm like, I hate war. I will do anything to ensure that we don't go to war. I don't want my kids to go to war. I don't want anybody to go to war. I want peace. Peace is better. And so I always feel split because I'm part pacifist, and then part combat-hungry warrior.

So after the war, you try to go to a job. And everybody in the job is trying to trample each other on the way to the top because they want that next promotion. Their bosses are letting them catch the proverbial shrapnel in the trenches to make more money. Whereas in the military, we're taught one: leaders eat last. So all your youngest enlisted, eat first. Second, everybody's willing to take a bullet for you. But, then you come home to an environment where nobody has your back and your leaders are just kind of tools. It's extremely alienating.

MO: I found this statistic remarkable. Just over 7,000 servicemen and women died in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last 20 years. Four times that number--more than 30,000---have committed suicide in the last 20 years.

What was your process for healing? I know that religion helped you get there. What are the various successful paths you've seen?

BS: I met these two civilians in Austin, Texas who were okay with what I was telling them about my time at war. No judgment.

People are like 'we got to help veterans, and they just won't talk to me.' And, I'm like, 'Well, how are you approaching them?' And they're like, 'Well, I can see that they're struggling, and I want them to tell me what's wrong.'

Now, imagine you walked up to a rape victim, and say, 'you appear to be struggling, tell me about the worst moments of your life!' That is effectively what we have done to our veteran community, and it's messed up. It's real messed up. And that's why they shut down it. It's just inappropriate.

Suffering is a universal language that we all speak and while our experiences may be different, ultimately, they're the same. And that can combine understanding and empathy. So, for me, as they began to open up, I became comfortable sharing. And then from there, they just really encouraged me to just focus in on growth. They helped me explore my purpose and meaning once more, as opposed to running from it.

Faith kind of played a very vital part in that journey. It was like, 'what does it look like if there is a higher power and that cares for humanity?'

MO: How is this country doing when it comes to caring for its veterans? Good, bad, ugly?

BS: (laughs) You want to look at the cost of your freedom, just go down to the local VA. How are we doing there? Not that good.

I mean, they, they couldn't even admit that they exposed us to toxic burn pits. It's a disaster. You have guys dying from cancer now that can't even get disability and are permanently disabled. It's the VA system. And then we go, "Oh, we got to do better care." It's not good.

We're trying to help, but we're not. We're not doing the best job, We've created like 50,000 veteran nonprofits now and $90 billion has been spent on helping veterans. But, what we don't need is more. We just need better help.

MOSH: How can civilians support you? As Americans who want to support those who have put on the uniform for this country, what what can we do?

Sledge: My biggest thing is, I just want to bridge the civilian-soldier gap. That's why I wrote the book the way that I did. I wanted civilians to understand what happened during the last 20 years to our veterans. Make veteran friends. It begins by opening up yourself. It takes time to build friendships. And in society, we want things microwave-ready these days. But things take time. My whole thing is: become friends with a veteran, and really begin to open up too. Then as you become friends, you're gonna get to hear more of their stories.

Ask questions. Don't ask the dumb questions where it's like, "Did you kill anybody?" Again, you're going straight to the point of trauma. Instead, ask them like, "Hey, I've seen the metals on your wall. How did you get those?" Or, "Hey, I saw that, you know, you're in the military. What do you do?"

Start with simple questions. And then get to know them. They'll begin to open up. As you take on that collective responsibility and hear their story and understand them, I think you're really just going to start helping and healing them.

MOSH: Talk to me about the best resources, especially if you're concerned or you want to be able to get a veteran help or you have somebody coming home.

Sledge: I'm always gonna say this. You're their first line of defense. If they came to you, it's because they trust you.

But, if you're looking at specifically organizations and entities that are doing some really cool stuff, here are a few:

• Heroes and Horses, up in Bozeman, Montana, is fantastic. They have a 41 day and intensive rehabilitation program where they specifically deal with the past pain and trauma.

• In addition, there is Heart Support, who I used to work with. They're fantastic. They're building up their veteran stuff that's headed up by a dear friend of mine.

• I love the streaming network Veteran TV;

• There are other ones that are just doing amazing work, including Stop Soldier Suicide;

• Then, there are volunteer organizations like The Mission Continues, and Team Rubicon, which takes veterans and gets them to serve, so that they feel that sense of belonging and camaraderie while heading to disaster zones.

MOSH: Let's end with the book. What do you hope someone takes away from it?

Sledge: The extreme and profound challenges that the last 20 years have presented to our soldiers in a populace that was largely checked out the entire time and didn't care, because they were able to enjoy those freedoms.

What I want people to see is that we have alienated in an entire generation of veterans who allowed the citizens of this country to live their lives to be completely unaffected for 20 years. No terrorist attacks on this soil. No draft. You can hate the war, and just like in Vietnam, protest it. But, had we enacted a draft, your number could have got punched.

So that's the thing. We gave people that kind of collective checkout for 20 years. And I go, "Do you want to know what the cost was? It was astronomical." We got institutionalized. And we just we sent 0.86% of the population on repeated back to back tours, and then left them to hang out dry.

I want veterans to feel like their stories finally told.

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