Questioning the “Ultimate Sacrifice” Because of America’s “Ultimate Betrayal”
Confronting a new wave of moral injury with the fall of Afghanistan
Put down the espresso and stop filtering photos for social media. It’s time that we as a society really listen to those at the frontlines of moral pain — otherwise we are bound to keep repeating the sins of the past.
It’s late afternoon on an unremarkable day. The sky is blah; the wind is blah; even the birds struggle to give a shit. It a perfect backdrop for Wyatt, the titan of a man I’m walking beside. Looking at him is like staring at Everest — unwavering; formidable strength; the pinnacle of its rank; the one everyone fears and reveres. At one point, I’m pretty sure Wyatt felt as epic as this millennia-old mountain. But on this day, he is a black hole — whatever light that is trapped inside him is being held by a force universally strong.
As I’d come to learn, that universe was his vow — I will never leave a fallen comrade; until he did, and then that universe blew to pieces.
Wyatt, a special forces solider, was on a special ops mission in Afghanistan a number of years ago when, as he said, things went from bad to fucked up. An intelligence disaster — out of date information, ignorant militia fighters, one in particular who…
