Given that less than 10% of the current U.S. population has served in the armed forces – down from 18% in 1980 – it …
Given that less than 10% of the current U.S. population has served in the armed forces – down from 18% in 1980 – it is no surprise that many Americans are unaware of the daily realities of military life. On Veterans Day this year, for a sense of perspective, it’s worth juxtaposing some of these military realties against what the world just witnessed during the Biden administration’s shameful and pathetic extraction from Afghanistan. Any active-duty military professional or veteran can tell you: The U.S. military places severe emphasis on the need to account for all serialized gear. Serialized gear can be a rifle, night vision goggles, a helicopter, a plane, or a GPS unit. If it has a serial number on it, and you lose it, it could cost you your career. What’s more, if you are a unit commander, and the gear is important enough – such as a rifle – you can lose your command if one of the members of your unit loses their serialized gear. This is the reality of military life. During my deployment to Afghanistan (2008-09), I led a Joint Task Force Paladin Counter-IED Team; my team was comprised of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. Our mission was to defeat the improvised explosive device threat in and around Maiwand. During that time, Maiwand was one of, if not the, most heavily IED’d chunks of ground on Earth. As of January 2009, over 100 bombs had been exploded or discovered in Maiwand since U.S. forces had arrived the previous year – an average of about one a day. Late one night, after returning from an IED-related event, one of the up-armored mine-resistant vehicles (pictured) in the convoy that I commanded rolled over after a tire slipped off the raised asphalt road. The roads in this area had a sharp drop and steep shoulders, and the heavy vehicles were prone to rolling when their tires slipped suddenly. Fortunately, the turret gunner remained inside the vehicle – avoiding the fate of being cut in half as the vehicle rolled onto his turret – and overall injuries were minor.
