August 26th will the third anniversary of the horrific suicide bombing at Abbey Gate, Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan. Approximately 170 Afghans were killed as were 13 U.S. military personnel. The evil terrorist who carried out the bombing was a member of ISIS. He had been earlier freed from a detention center by the Taliban.

How soon many of us amongst the citizenry forget this tremendous loss. How horribly their families, friends, and their brothers- and sisters-in-arms have suffered! The following are the thirteen young Americans who, in Lincoln’s words, gave the last full measure of their devotion:

USMC Lance Cpl. David Espinoza

USMC Sgt. Nicole Gee

USMC Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss

USMC Cpl. Hunter Lopez

USMC Lance Cpl. Rylee McCollum

USMC Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola

USMC Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui

USMC Cpl. Daegen Page

USMC Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo

USMC Cpl. Humberto Sanchez

USMC Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz

Navy Hospital Corpsman (posthumously promoted to Petty Officer 3rd Class) Maxton Soviak

I cannot fathom losing a child to a violent death in a war zone. I hope I never will suffer such a loss. “The dead know only one thing. It is better to be alive”, Private Joker, “Full Metal Jacket”, 1987.

After the military mortuary service had prepared their young bodies, which had been torn asunder by the suicide bomber’s myriad ball-bearings, they were returned to Dover Air Force Bas where their families awaited them as did President and First Lady Biden, Secretary of Defense Austin, and other dignitaries. Multiple family members have been interviewed. President Biden inaccurately, unwisely, and thoughtlessly conflated the death of his son Beau with the deaths of the slaughtered 13 troops at Abbey Gate. At least one parent stated that President Biden made the Dover transfer of the remains all about him, his loss and the death of his son, who died in a well-equipped hospital in the U.S., nonviolently from brain cancer, surrounded by family. There is no equivalency.

I have no expertise in such matters, but it would appear the withdrawal from Afghanistan was very poorly planned and executed. The images of desperate Afghans clinging to the exterior of transport planes and falling to their deaths is surely seared into the national conscience and our memories as much as the photograph of the last helicopter taking off from the American embassy in Saigon. I feel a sense of shame. The impression from my distant observation is that many members of our billionaire overlord class, our meretricious marionette politicians, and some of the top military brass (enjoying the revolving door to the defense industry), are without shame.

Some believe that our all-volunteer force facilitates military entanglements by our republic. Very few citizens have “skin in the game”. This has been the case since the end of the Vietnam War. Shockingly, only one-half of one percent of the population of the U.S. is serving as active-duty military. Not too surprisingly, the upper-middle-class and the wealthy are not well represented in the current ranks of our fighting forces. Specifically, only 17% of the recruits come from neighborhoods where the income level is $87,851 and over. It may be that resuming conscription would solve the recruiting shortfalls which are presently significant, improve our national security posture, and ensure, indeed compel, participation in national military service by those in our society who are presently underrepresented in sending their sons and daughters into harm’s way to defend our national interests. It is wrong that a broader spectrum of American society is not participating in the sacrifices.

Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note

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