My friend didn’t live to see his 19th birthday.
Exactly my point. And I’m sorry for you and your buddy.
I was in Afghanistan in ‘02. Winter time and the bad guys had just endured months of laser guided bombs being dropped on their buddies, so they learned to lay low.
Ended up in Baghdad years later as a contractor working at the embassy.
The embassy folks, the media, USAID, etc live in liberal fantasy land. They hate the military, hated the contractors, hated the guns but sure as hell loved that security blanket.
For them it’s rainbows and lollipops. Pool parties. Happy Hour. Gay Pride. All their fun stuff.
They completely ignore and then forget about what’s on the other side of those walls.
It may sound corny as hell to some, but the part in A Few Good Men, where Nicholson says his thing, is so effin’ true it’s scary.
I had a neighbor who was in Afghanistan early on. He was obviously struggling and committed suicide recently. His mother told my wife that she had waited 20 years knowing he would kill himself over seeing friends die there.