Retired Air Force MSgt. Adam Boccher was fortunate to walk away from war after 20 years of faithful service. A deployment to Afghanistan would make sure it followed him home.
Boccher enlisted into the Air Force in 1999 hoping to serve something bigger than himself. The attacks of 9/11 two years later would ensure it. Despite multiple deployments throughout the years, it would be the one to East Afghanistan which would change everything.
”Our mission was to find, fix, track and neutralize insurgent forces in the rural and mountainous regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan threatening coalition personnel,” he explained. “I relied on human intelligence built upon personal relationships to achieve our objective. Interpreters fluent in Pashto and Dari including the various dialects were mission critical for us.”
Boccher shared his feelings of initial support for a withdrawal, all the way back to President Obama after the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
“I knew the U.S. would eventually leave Afghanistan. I believe our withdrawal was the right decision so long as a small contingency element remained in a support capacity,” he said.
Despite the commitment, war continued into another presidency. In 2020, President Trump negotiated a withdrawal and a final end to the war with the Taliban. The former president also freed 5,000 Taliban fighters as part of the agreement. The new goal was a May 1, 2021 completion.
“I never understood the reason for publicly stating mission critical information like dates for withdrawal. In doing so you are literally telling your enemy the optimal time to initiate an attack,” Boccher shared.
When President Biden took office in 2021, he reaffirmed the commitment but changed the date to September 1, 2021. This August, Boccher watched in horror as the last troops left the country early and the Taliban quickly took it over in a matter of days.
“Why in the world would our government set a deadline to be out of Afghanistan knowing the number of personnel remaining in a country whose lives would be threatened with a hasty U.S. pullout? I just can’t wrap my head around it,” Boccher added.
As a veteran living with a TBI, severe PTSD and a whole host of invisible wounds, he found himself questioning the why behind his own service. Because of that, it’s been hard for him to formulate the words to uplift other veterans struggling with the same feelings, he admitted.
“It was a slap in the face to all of us who served, all of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and has caused unimaginable heartbreak for the wounded, ill and injured,” he explained. “All of this is devastating for gold star families and families destroyed by drugs and alcohol as the result of chronic PTSD.”
There were and are thousands of Afghan partners dedicated to supporting the American troops, democracy and fighting terrorism. Legislation was passed back in 2008 to speed up the process of getting allies and interpreters safely out of the country with special visas. Despite this, most would wait three to four years on a list. If they survived at all.
“I would not have been able to do my job without our Afghan interpreters by my side almost exclusively in enemy controlled non-permission territory,” Boccher said. “Doing so placed those individuals at great risk of harm or death if discovered by insurgent forces.”
After Afghanistan’s fall to the Taliban, American troops were sent right back in. This time with less equipment, bases and foot hold. Over 6,000 men and women from all branches fighting to clear and evacuate allies and their families. 13 dedicated service members lost their lives, over 100 civilians were killed and so many more wounded.
If it feels like you’ve heard this story before, you have. Over and over throughout the last 20 years. It’s the battered troops and their families who continue to pay the price to defend the other 99 percent of America, every single day.
Though the recent ending in Afghanistan has gutted the military population, Boccher hopes they can all focus on the real reason their service is and always will be worth it: the person to their left and right on the battlefield.
