War in Afghanistan: 10 years later, soldiers remember call to duty
BY MAUDLYNE IHEJIRIKA Staff Reporter mihejirika@suntimes.com October 6, 2011 10:44PM
Capt. Kelly Green (left), 30, and Capt. Jamie Neumann, 28, are U.S. Army nurses who enlisted after the Sept. 11 attacks. “I would go back to Afghanistan in a heartbeat,” Capt. Green said. | Scott Stewart~Sun-Times
Updated: November 16, 2011 10:08AM
Like most people, U.S. Army Capt. Kelly Green will always remember where she was on Sept. 11, 2001.
A nursing student in her first year of college, she heard the news over the radio as she drove home.
“It was unfathomable. The magnitude was just so horrific, it was impossible to grasp,” Green said.
When an Army recruiter visited her campus three years later, “I had the application the next day,” said Green, 30, a brigade nurse counselor stationed at Naval Station Great Lakes. She has served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, which the United States invaded 10 years ago Friday.
The costs of the Afghan war in lives and dollars has been staggering. And while there are arguments opposing and supporting the United States’ longest war, American men and women who are fighting, willingly, leave those questions at the door.
“I honestly thought it was a situation where we would eventually find bin Laden and the sources of evil and it would be a swift action,” said Sgt. Leonard Haith, 38, commander at the U.S. Army recruiting station in Palatine. Then a 10-year veteran, he was assigned to recruiting after 9/11.
“But looking back, we went about it the right way, to make sure 9/11 would never occur again. The soldiers who lost their lives in this war would not want us to pull out before the job is done,” he said.
The U.S. went to war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, less than a month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks killed nearly 3,000 U.S. civilians. The Afghan invasion started after Taliban leaders refused to hand over Osama bin Laden.
In May, bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in a raid on his hideout in Pakistan.
As of July, more than 2.3 million troops had been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, which the U.S. invaded on March 20, 2003, according to the military. About 977,000 of those were deployed more than once, and about 300,000 more than twice. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent.
The Afghan war has seen about 1,700 U.S. casualties — alongside deaths of Afghan civilians and U.S. coalition troops. As of last month, about 13,700 U.S. troops had been wounded there, and as of May, more than 2,900 American women and men were left widowed.
After 15 months providing medical care for Iraqi detainees, Green volunteered to serve in Afghanistan, with its harsh climate and impenetrable mountains too well navigated by insurgents.
“Afghanistan was completely different,” she said. “But I wanted to take care of U.S. soldiers.”
The Afghan war has taken its toll on Illinois military members and their families. More than 60 local residents have been killed. The first was Bryant L. Davis, 20, a machinist’s mate fireman apprentice from the Calumet Heights neighborhood who fell off the USS Kitty Hawk on Nov. 7, 2001.
The war introduced the nation to a new enemy, the Taliban — since toppled, as was Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But it also ushered in a seemingly endless mission many criticize as unwinnable.
“I’m from a military family. I’ve known forever I wanted to be a soldier,” said Sgt. Scott Carter, 26, stationed at the Army’s Clybourn Recruiting Office in Chicago. He has served two tours in Iraq.
“My generation, the 9/11 generation, didn’t know what it was like to go through years of war. But we have a ‘We won’t quit’ attitude,” he said. “Those who say ‘unwinnable’ haven’t been there to see what we’re fighting for. There’s pride, seeing both countries now taking over for themselves.”
The 10-year war has seen gains in goals set out by the U.S.-led international effort — which included rooting out terrorists on Afghan soil, helping establish a credible Afghan government and professional Afghan army, and improving the lives of the Afghan people, including women.
But the Taliban still remain a significant political and military force driving instability and violence, and neighboring Pakistan remains a haven for its leaders and other terrorists.
As the 10th year loomed, the U.S. laid plans to scale back its presence over the next few years.
“Coming in, you don’t expect it to last this long,” said Capt. Jamie Neuman, 28, also a brigade nurse counselor stationed at the north suburban Great Lakes station, who has served in Iraq.
“I was deployed from the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, where the injured soldiers from Iraq or Afghanistan go. I’ve only deployed once — some of them, five or six times,” she said.
The U.S.-led coalition has more than 130,000 troops in Afghanistan, 98,000 from the U.S.
In July, President Barack Obama announced he would pull 10,000 troops out of Afghanistan this year, and 23,000 more by next September.
Meanwhile, international forces have begun handing over responsibility for security to Afghan forces, and all foreign combat troops are to leave the country by the end of 2014.
“It’s probably true that none of us thought it was going to last this long, but now I see that it’s going to be very difficult to get out of it,” Green said. “Honestly, I would go back to Afghanistan in a heartbeat. I joined the Army to take care of our troops who are fighting, and I will be there as long as it takes, until everybody comes home.”
Contributing, AP
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