You mightn’t have noticed because of the holiday festivities and college football hoopla but, after more than 13 years, America’s war in Afghanistan is officially over.
The change isn’t seismic; the U.S. will still keep more than 10,000 troops there to back up Afghan forces for the foreseeable future. But, still, a ceremony in Kabul last month said that U.S. combat operations are over, so I thought it would be a good time to reach out to some people I’ve spoken with through the years who have had a hand in the so-called War on Terror.
Ruth Stonesifer, once the national president of the American Gold Star Mothers, an organization of women whose children have been killed in military service, said the event was somewhat anti-climatic.
“Taking down the flag didn’t effect me like I thought it would,” she said.
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, her son Kristofor, a former philosophy student and new Army Ranger, told his mom, “A lot of people are going to die.”
He was right.
On Oct. 19, 2001, a Black Hawk helicopter crashed near the Afghanistan border, killing Pfc. Stonesifer, 28, and Spc. Jonn Edmunds, 20. The two soldiers, based at Georgia’s Fort Benning, were the first combat-related deaths in the War on Terror. Stonesifer’s boots, beret, helmet and camouflage uniform were put on display at the National Infantry Museum at the base.
Ruth Stonesifer, who has helped soothe many grieving families, wasn’t emotional about the recent ceremony in Kabul, she said, “because the battle is still ongoing.”
In fact, she pointed out, two soldiers were killed in a recent attack.
The deaths may come as a surprise to many Americans who barely realize there’s still a war going on. The public’s support has waned. Last year, a Gallup Poll found Americans pretty evenly split when asked if the war in Afghanistan was a mistake, with 49 percent saying it was and 48 percent saying it wasn’t. That’s a far cry from 13 years ago, when a still-angry public supported the effort 93 percent to 6 percent.
More than 2.6 million Americans were sent to fight the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the nation will be dealing with that fallout for decades, said retired Command Sgt. Maj. Samuel Rhodes, who in recent years has become an evangelist for his fellow veterans to seek treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Rhodes, a hard-nosed soldier, collapsed during his third tour of Iraq and was diagnosed with PTSD. Since retiring, he has written two books and has traveled widely to spread his “Get treated!” gospel to fellow service members. His tough-guy cred brings buy-in.
“People figure, ‘If he can talk about it, then maybe I can,’ ” said Rhodes, who lives on a ranch in Fortson, Ga., not far from Fort Benning. “A lot of soldiers don’t want to talk about their challenges.”
That the military is manned by volunteers means that many American families have had no real connection to the long-running conflicts.
That Afghanistan has long simmered on the back burner is more of a programming decision, Rhodes figures, than an effort by Americans to forget unpleasantries.
“The media has just elected not to cover it,” he said, “but for us soldiers, it’s always been on our minds. We always knew it was going on.”
Rhodes is saddened seeing the state of affairs in Iraq, with ISIS taking over large swaths of area he and others like him fought to secure.
“I would have loved to stay. Iraq has great people,” he said. “The fact that they’re killing each other there is just wrong.”
According to the Department of Defense, 2,216 servicemen and women were killed in Afghanistan and 4,412 in Iraq. There were almost 20,000 wounded in Afghanistan and 32,000 in Iraq.
The Congressional Research Service estimates the two wars cost $1.6 trillion, although that’s just the sticker price. A Harvard study said the total costs, including “long-term medical care and disability compensation for service members, veterans and families, military replenishment and social and economic costs” will be more than $4 trillion.
Rhodes believes the wars were worth the cost, as evidenced by the lack of successful major terror attacks in the U.S.
“I think that we put them on their heels,” said Rhodes. “Although once they get a foothold again, they’ll come this way.”
Army Capt. David McRaney spent a tour in Iraq, where he went on 130 missions off-base without a scratch. In 2010, he went to Afghanistan for what was to be a safer, on-the-base stint, one where he was grievously wounded by a mortar attack that killed three civilian contractors who were with him. The wounds injured his brain and put him on a recovery he is still undergoing.
McRaney lived in Paulding County when I spoke with him in his home nearly three years ago. A nurse by training, he has gotten a medical retirement from the Army, finished a master’s degree in management and now lives with his wife and young daughter in Asheville, N.C.
Looking back on the two wars, McRaney sums it up: “Afghanistan was definitely worth it. But our time in Iraq probably was not the best course of action. The place I lived in Iraq is now an ISIS stronghold.
“If I was active duty,” he added, “I could not give you that statement.”
The war in Afghanistan has been “out of sight, out of mind.” He found it odd to see more press coverage this year of the Pearl Harbor anniversary than of a current war.
McRaney feels good that the U.S. has established an education system in Afghanistan, one that might pay off a generation later.
He still feels good about his small part in the effort and, yes, looking back over what has happened, he said, “I’d do it again.”
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