REPORT
Veterans mobilize online to help Afghans fleeing the Taliban.
By Amy Mackinnon, a national security and intelligence reporter at Foreign Policy.
Adam DeMarco, another West Point graduate who served in both Iraq and Afghanistan, said the evacuation efforts had helped give many veterans a renewed sense of mission as the Taliban once again took over the country.
“One of the biggest issues we see with veterans is that sense of lack of purpose,” DeMarco said. He added that thousands of veterans had been offering to help.
On Tuesday, when the West Point group was notified that three Afghan graduates of the military academy they were aiding had been successfully evacuated along with their families, a total of 19 people, DeMarco said he broke down in tears.
“It was such a release of emotion.”
In the group chats, the joy was palpable. People were trading lines from the U.S. Army fight song; exchanging quotes from Gens. George Patton, Dwight Eisenhower, and Douglas MacArthur; and texting Bible verses.
“Everyone thought that the veteran community was going to be absolutely devastated. Yes, we were, for a bit, but then we realized we had another mission,” DeMarco said.
“There’s a military term, ‘Charlie Mike,’ [which means] continue the mission.”
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