Ward at War: Understanding 20 Years of Conflict in Afghanistan
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 มิ.ย. 2021
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In this episode Ward goes in depth about his time as an embedded journalist in Afghanistan in 2010. Ward and his managing editor, Christian Lowe, go from Kabul to Bagram to FOB Salerno to COP Yosef Khel to capture the war up close. They also travel to Kandahar and Bastion before returning to Kabul to interview General Stanley McChrystal at ISAF headquarters in what turns out to be one of the last interviews he gave before he was fired because of a "Rolling Stone" feature.
This episode lays out evidence of how the outcome of the war in Afghanistan could have been determined more than 10 years ago based on what Ward saw and heard during his time there. It's also a detailed account of what life was like for our troops who served there. - บันเทิง
I was in Farah Province ‘07-‘08 with my Forward Surgical Team and my full-up Combat Support Hospital was in Salerno. We couldn’t do our mission without our Terps. One of the things I’m most proud of, is that our interpreters made it to the US with their families. All the other hard lost gains, as tragic as they still are today in 2023, pale in comparison to failing our counterparts in the ANA, interpreters, and Afghan Nationals whose own lives and the lives of their families are in the balance. Inshallah 😿💔🇦🇫🇺🇸
That's because you looked outwards instead of inwards, all one has to do is look at Rome. Same thing.
Entire effort is now a great loss.
May all our GI’s RIP
I'm a man. I"m strong. I'm a vet of the Iranian embassy hostage days.. (444) but I had to break down in tears when you described the young man with the mine injury. I'm so proud of the response and compassion of those I would be proud to call brothers. I know there are those like this out there with values such as mine..
As a former Iranian air force brat, I just love watching a Tomcat pilot or RIO talk. And the story is a bonus, thank you.
Khosh amadeed!
We’re are you located now? What was your father flying In Iran ?
It sucks the US and Iran governments are at odds. Would love to see an IRAF tomcat IRL just once just to see a flying tomcat again.
@@Tonkotsu2k10 I AM IRANIAN AMERICAN. BORN IN NY. SEARVED IN USMC. DO NOT LOSE HOPE IRAN THE US AND ISRAEL WILL BE FREAINDS AND ALLIES ONCE AGAIN!!!!!!!! LONG LIVE TRUE IRAN NOT IR IN IRAN!!!!!!!! GOD BLISS MY HOME USA!!!!!!!!....
DOROUD HAM MEHAN!!!!!! JAVID SHAH!!!!!!!!!! .....
Another great story! Turns out you were 100% right about the withdrawal. We could’ve been there 100 years and I don’t think that it would’ve made any difference to the state of Afghanistan.
We change little but kill our boys, enrich corporations, control oil flow and mess with others destiny. I say we give the military industry complex a circumcision and spend some of that money helping American citizens. I believe in the Prime Directive. Let 3rd world life develop and make its own mistakes unless they start to rise like Germany and become violent. Once it's self defence/war it is our business and it is justified. Then it's hammer time not baby drone time.
General Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex. General Washington warned us about foreign entanglements. The USA should be a very powerful Switzerland.
So true. Better to have gotten out!
We needed to get out 2 years after we went in. Everyone who went there after that is a criminal.
..indeed, and this was obvious to everyone in October of 2001. It was immediately clear to me, who has never spent a single second in uniform, what was the correct thing to do - put the 10th Mountain Division on the border with Pakistan and interdict every living thing that tried to cross the border from Afghanistan. Instead we just repeated the same stupid blunders of the Russians. And then we doubled down on stupidity by attacking Iraq. Maddening! It was sickeningly obvious that the idiot neocons wanted to box in Iran and were using 9/11 as an excuse to do it. Not only was there no justice for those who died on 9/11 in the most awful way, injustice was compounded upon injustice layer after layer deep, getting our kids maimed and killed for absolutely fucking nothing. We learned jackall shit NOTHING from Vietnam.
Ward, Sir. I’m a Vietnam Veteran. Flight Engineer in CH-47 Chinook’s. 242ASH Black Cats.
I have been an avid supporter of your channel since the beginning or close to it.
This ‘report’ or work of your journalistic skills is greatly appreciated.
It’s not often that a retired Naval Officer goes afield and journals their experiences on the ground in an active war zone. Your truthful reporting of the incredible skills that the Army /Navy ground forces have greatly respected. These warriors aren’t often shown the respect you gave them in this report. And from a Naval Officer at that. Thank you Sir.
Thank you for cutting the dog part of ur story short
*why were there no women 29:07 ? ….Is that jst normal?
As a non-military person, I love these type of stories and this one is among the best. I try to have a clue what life is like from as many perspectives as I can but military perspectives are often opaque to me. This channel is a God send, in that regard. Thank you for what you do and thank you for sharing what you have.
I’ve always loved your aircraft stories but never knew you could run an M4 proficiently or appreciated things on the ground and special operations the way you do. Very cool, Ward!
Never underestimate a Naval Aviator. If they can teach a crayon munching Marine like me how to employ decades old communications technologies that I would never use in 6 months, I'm sure a Naval pilot could pick it up in a week.
Learning how to shoot fundamentally is easy, it's learning how to employ that power that's difficult. Discipline, training, judgment, and quick thinking. Navy pilots just need to know how it works in order to use it, because they have the rest.
Case in point, Ward being an F-14 backseater now given a bombing mission, something new that he trained on. The lantern pod (spelling, sorry) was a novel idea but the Navy made it work, and it was the best in the business for precision targeting.
I was in Kabul 2009 as a contract specialist for USACOE at Camp “Cupcake” next to Zama. I left the week after 4 July. Just before my departure terrorists hit an embassy….I think reports show this as later but I felt the explosion just after I left my room. It’s an unusual thing leaving because you dwell on unfinished business and want to go back and continue doing what you were doing - it took me several months to shake that and a good long hike into the Alaska mountains. I can’t believe we are still there.
Thank you for your service and I'm glad you were able to find peace and relaxation at home, Alaska.
I know the feeling intimately. My first tour in 2008-2009 I tried to extend because I was optimistic that if we could JUST do X, Y, and Z better we could get enough momentum to turn things around in a permanent way. My second tour in 2011-2012, in middle of the OEF "surge" with the support of the best and brightest of the Australian diplomatic and military organizations, things were not getting better. It was like an infinite pit of quicksand where the more we tried to do, the worse it got.
I’ve never thought of this explanation as the reason I always felt compelled to return…I have several deployments there and feel a sense of accomplishment and complete frustration at the same time
@@jzcski This thread is why folks like me, who served but were so distant from the actual harm (Nobody has yet to attack a Aircraft Carrier), seriously downplay our own service when someone thanks me/us. The folks who have those purple/white striped medals AND stars on them, those folks: I tap my own cap too...
Hey Ward, small correction here but that footage of you firing an “M203” at night is actually a belt fed, air cooled, crew served, open bolt, fully automatic, heavy grenade machine gun designated as the Mk 19. Although the M203 and Mk 19 both fire 40mm grenades, the Mk 19 uses a high velocity variant which is longer, and has much higher chamber pressures than the low velocity 40mm grenades used in the M203.
The M203 is actually the grenade launcher you likely saw infantrymen carrying attached to their M4 during your time in afghan.
That's what I was gonna say, if you got to drive a Ford GT-40 you wouldn't want to tell everyone you got to drive a Ford V-6 Mustang 😄 shooting a Mk-19 filled with golden eggs is lifegoal, bucket list material 😄👍
yep
.m v c f c d
@@crashburn3292 It’s an informational video about his experiences in correspondence in Afghanistan. No one is trying to be disrespectful. If he makes a mistake in identifying a weapon system he fired, no is trying to one up him by telling him what weapon system it is.
If anything it should be taken as a compliment. The Mk 19 is infinitely more bad ass than the M203, approximately 325 rounds per minute more bad ass actually. As an infantry machine gunner, I’m glad Ward got to let it rip with one of the finest tools of the trade. I want everyone who watched the video to know the weapon system he fired is actually more bad ass than the one he stated in the video.
@@crashburn3292The original comment was not being critical or snobby. Firing a MK-19 with a full box of 40mm golden eggs is something awesome, special and unique! Firing an M-203 not very unique, special or interesting... It's worth Ward knowing for future telling of this story to make it that much cooler, if you got to take a Bugatti for a few laps around the race track, but then accidentally call it a Camry it changes the impact of the experience for the listener 😉
Rakkasan!!! I still have my hat, patches/etc from 2002 when Canada's PPCLI went to work with the US 101st and other SF forces. During "The Whale" operation back then, two of our snipers in fact set the record (at that time) for the longest shots in battle, picking off heavy MG gunners that were causing casualties and mayhem vs our US brothers. That team consisted of 2 Canadian snipers and a couple spotters, and some US Army SF soldiers. Bush ended up giving both our Canadian snipers bronze stars (rare for us Canadians), and the entire PPCLI infantry unit the Presidential Unit Citation. Our guys were VERY used to operating at high alts in the Canadian Rockies, and despite having to haul their own h2o, had not one exhaustion casualty on that operation on "The Whale". The US soldiers had helo support to haul most of their h20 and food, and took 1/3/33% casualties from exhaustion - not slagging them, just showing how brutal the conditions were in that fight, for airborne soldiers that hadn't gotten much time training at high altitude.
Great video as usual Ward.
SerHaHa, we had a company of the PPCLI providing local security when I was at Chapman Airfield in 2002. Great bunch of guys.
Dave Fivecoat is a USMA classmate and friend of mine. Great American and glad you had a chance to meet him.
Jesus. I watch all your videos and when I saw this one I just couldn't but finally I had to know what your mission was there. I spent two tours there and two years stateside learning the language and preparing soldiers for the Afghanistan mission. I'm glad you had this experience and it's a testament to your instincts as a journalist that you picked up immediately on the central challenges we struggled with. The notion of an "Afghan" national identity -- one that supersedes familial and tribal bonds -- is an utter fiction and the idea that the people living inside its borders should risk their lives for a concept forced upon them by the force of ISAF arms and USAID money is an outrageous example of mass delusion. The people of rural Afghanistan will go on as they always have, tolerating the occasional disruptions of their lives by the armed group _du_ _jour_ with the knowledge that all of them, including the Taliban, will soon tire and move on.
I appreciate intelligent comments like this. Thanks.
The fantasy of an Afgan Security Force was the cool aid being served to keep this going. Yet the UK troops and US troops that babysat them were never listened to. Hell of a way to waist the lives of American troops. Look at the results.
A great commemt but I did not see any of this understanding in the post from Afghanistan ?
This is indicative of the stupidity ,hubris and corruption of Washington DC to spend 20 years in a backward 8th Century hell hole ,trying to bring them into modernity. Enormous treasure and blood. Not the blood of politicians or their children.
There's a book titled "A Sort Walk in the Hindu Kush" which does an excellent job of explaining the culture of Afghanistan.
As a retired Air Force O-5 I appreciate your observations. I have been eating up your channel and do enjoy it. I left the service in 1988. A lot has changed in those 33 years.
Ward, thanks for doing this one, although, extremely tough for me to watch. I completed 3 tours to Afghanistan, and I was in the Paktika prov on 2009. My unit provided medevac flights for the entire region from Bastogne. You touched on something we all realized once we deployed to Afghanistan, that the people have lived that way for thousands of years and they are not interested in joining our "western" way of life. They don't understand the constant presence of coalition troops in their country. U.S. policy should be one of a committed withdrawal of all forces with the understanding that we can and will commit U.S. forces back to Afghanistan if we should feel a threat of the Taliban.
Thank you Sir, for all the sacrifices you have made for us 🇺🇸🙏
Agreed
1. ‘They are not interested in joining our western way if life.’ Not murdering kids is not ‘western’ it’s *civilised*, it’s what all the rest of the ‘non-western’ world aspires to: Asia, China, S Am, Africa. 2. ‘They don’t understand the constant presence of troops in their country’: so what? 3. ‘the understanding we go back’-give away all the structures and protections of our service people and have to start again? That’s crazy.
Commit tomahawks. Not boots on the ground.
@@065Tim Doesnt make sense?
Love how you flexed your rifle skills, Ward.
Your comments were remarkably prescient. TY for speaking the “real-deal.”
Great story Ward. I was flying cargo 747's into all the allied bases during that time you were there. Hauled many MRAP's among other necessary supplies. I saw all of Afghanistan from a different view than you did but made many friends with the Military crews. Bastion was as you described and for us jumbo's we started our approach from a holding pattern circling into the dust bowl. I don't have a lot of faith in the Afghan gov. being completely independent. Thanks.
kalitta 747-200
Wow, I’m wondering then if you personally knew the flight crew of that infamous 747 pancaking crash in Afghanistan when their cargo load suddenly shifted and threw off their CG?
@@tylernewton7217 A couple of them. The First Officer's grandfather trained me for my DC-8 type rating over 30 years ago.
You are an excellent story teller Ward! I’m loving your content 😊
Ward i was in Afghanistan in 2009 in most of the same places you were as part of my Army mission. When I was back working in the Pentagon I was a CAO for a Rakkasan soldier killed Dec 10, 2010 in LTC Fivecoats BN.
Thanks for this post and the videos from that time. I will share w SPC Sean Cutsforth’s family.
Pretty prophetic, what you said, about your doubt, of the Afghanistan's ability to secure the land once we leave.
Great story Ward . I just finished a book The Origins of the Vietnam War , what you described as the population being less interested in taking care of business is exactly what I read in this book , and now we will be leaving Afghanistan in much the same way having spent much Blood and treasure .
John your exactly right about the Vietnamese... I personally believe it wasn't until the fall of Saigon that they actually realize what was going on.. then they wanted out...of country..
@@ytgre7767 hmmm ? ok I get It. I was there. But Not all the ARVN were slackers. There were Airborne & Marine Units, that were legit. There's a Legend; that the real reason the Vung Tau R & R Center was closed. Was that One or more Special Forces types, on R& R at the center; were "seeing" Women, that had domestic ties to the local Vietnamese Marines. Vung Tau, was their Home Base. Needless to say, what ensued; was a "grenade throwing contest" between the "Green Berets", & the Vietnamese Marines ! To placate the Local Civilian & Military Authorities, the R & R Center was closed, shortly after. Leaving only China Beach in I Corp as the In-Country R & R Center. I often wonder, if this is the real "backstory"; behind Frank W. Slade's Blindness, in "Scent of a Women".
@@RoaroftheTiger My vist was some what different..I became a guest of the NVA. for a extended amount of time..
@@ytgre7767 - wow ... I'm sorry my Brother. I'm sure, I can't begin to imagine, what You went through. But, I hope You've taken advantage of what the VA can do, to make Your Life easier, now. There's No shame in it.
I've been in a Vietnam Veteran's PTS Group, going on 25 years.
When I got back - There was NO "Welcome Home"- especially from the VA ... They SUCKED ! But, finally they get it. Just a suggestion; get into the System, If You haven't already. Do it through a " Vet Center" at 1st ... If Your interested. You'll find the Vet Centers , listed under - www.vetcenter.va.gov
btw - It's Never too late ...
Until recently, even WW II Vets, were finding their way, to the VA .
My Brother, I Wish for You, Only the Best. - "Welcome Home"
@@RoaroftheTiger Thanks it was a long time ago.. I let it go many years ago with help.. VA was terrible back then but now it seems to have gotten a lot better.
I went back about 2005 the strange thing is those visions that you remember are no longer there.. now it's full of modern high rises and boutique hotels shit there's even a museum at the old entrance to the Hanoi Hilton..Google it you will see the Hotel with a pool on the prison ground's... Even the old embassy is gone.. people were very nice it's a different time different place.. stay well wish you all the best you and your family.
I was a USN NFO at Bagram in 2008 supporting Task Force Paladin and can remember that land scape well. Thanks for the walk down memory lane. Very salient video in light of the events in Afghanistan over the last few weeks!
My terps call sign was Hank and I swear to God he looked like a mini Richard petty! I still email him once and a while in Iraq. I did and still would trust him with my life any day. The unsung heroes of the war.
Also, the porta John's we gave the Iraqis ended up just having the bottom cut out with a giant hole underneath. Nothing like dropping class 6 in 130° shitter. Just some humor for an awful situation. Great vid as always.
Ward - You’re a great storyteller. Thanks for taking the time to share this.
Fantastic episode, Ward! It was totally captivating and I was shocked how fast 45 minutes elapsed.
This is probably one of the most interesting aviation/Military channels on any platform, every time I jump in to see what your video is about I end up spending my time watching from start to finish lol
He really deserves a TV program. Everything he talks about is fascinating!
Outstanding as always, I am slowly viewing all of your previous videos!
Ward! Thxs for sharing again! Great episode! Thxful for all those standing in harm’s way for us! :)
Remarkable and fascinating account, thanks for putting yourself out there to get the story.
Hi Ward, this is Wendy hijacking Mike's (my husband) account. Thanks for sharing your fascinating stories. Best TH-cam channel out there in my opinion. We look forward to every video.
Great stuff, Ward. Thanks for the brief. Looking forward to reading "Punks War". Should be here from Amazon this coming week. Stay well.
That was an absolutely amazing story! I'm so glad I found your channel a few days ago. You truly make some amazing and informative content.
Awesome video as usual. As I love military history the video was very informative. You’ve done everything it seems. Can’t wait for more stories. See you Friday for “Happy Hour “. Good day
I love hearing your commentary on your adventures!! You have had an amazing career and done so much and have so much to share and this insight as to the American battle in Afghanistan is very interesting and informative. Thanks for your service!
Great story Ward. Glad to hear you have maintained those connections over the years
Very timely and relevant. Great content. Thank you for it. Thank you to all who have served.
This guy is a amazing story teller, I was listening to this laying down and I could imagine perfectly the tension during some parts of this mission, bravo man !
What a great video and a wonderful channel. I first started watching because of the aviation aspect, but more so that you were in the tomcat which was as a kid and still to this day one of my favorite planes. What I think is really cool is you're stories and experiences of being REO are unique and fascinating!! But the way you go about sharing the experiences that you've had the opportunity to be apart of are top notch. Thank you for you service and you're awesome channel.
Really enjoyed your story here and a huge thank you for going over to see the boys, I personally know how much it means to them. Thank you Ward.
Sir, I really appreciate your outlook and vision in your escapades!! Very entertaining!! I’m sold and will be eyes deep in “Punk’s” shortly!! Thank you for your service and Thank you for this channel, can’t share it enough!!
Thanks, Ward. You’re an excellent storyteller! I appreciate your style, and your sense of humor. Keep up the great work! By the way, that pic of you all walking through the tall grass was very cool. Thanks!
45 minutes I did not have... well spent. You've earned my subscription. Love the Tomcat videos as well.
Thank you for your time and willingness to share
Great stuff WC, glad you made it out.
Love your storytelling skills and your memory detail. I was on Coronado last month watching the V-22s come and go on NASNI. They make a totally different sound than tipical helis. Glad to be a Patreon.
Incredible perspective! Learned more listening to this than I got from 'news' sources. Keep up the good work...
Great video, Mr. Carroll! We were there at the same time. I was just down the road from Kabul at Camp Blackhorse. Glad you kept your head down and made it back to tell the troops' story.
Excellent story Ward! You’ve had some really great experiences in your life. God bless and stay safe!
Excellent narrative Ward. I listened to the entire presentation, no fast forwarding....
I was there 2006-7 with the Oregon Army National Guard. I was Infantry and was a turret gunner on countless convoys from Kandahar to Camp Phoenix in Kabul. Glad you made it back safe.
Excellent recollection of your personal experiences in Afghanistan .Thank you for sharing them with us all !
Watching this so much later (September 2022), there's a great deal of wisdom and foresight on display. Thank you for sharing your experiences and your thoughts with us!
Another great episode, thanks Ward. You have first class way of giving real insight into your experiences.
Another amazing video/story by you. The experiences you had on the ground in Afghanistan have to be the furthest thing you could have expected to be in your future when you were training to be a RIO in an F-14 Tomcat.
Thank you for this Ward.
l cannot imagine what it must have been like to be there in any capacity, reporting or serving. l really appreciate your style of delivery & factual down to earth reporting.
Thank you for commitment and service to our great county, Ward. This was a great production with so much info, Thanks Mike.....l
Wow, Ward, your commentary was spot on - really prescient - thanks so much from Australia for sharing your practical insight and giving this topic the attention it deserves. Huge fan of your channel, keep up the good work!
When the soldiers were treating the teenager, that shows the hearts of Americans.
Hello Ward, great story and account of your trip to Afghanistan. Thank you very much for this interesting and informative video. As always, I appreciate and enjoy your stories.
You remind me so much of my Grand Father-In-Law when he starts telling stories you can't help but stop and listen. Thanks for sharing! o7 xoxo
Super cool Ward, one of your best. Great pics, couldn’t hurt to have more but thankful for what you did. Videos were welcome. Even the wife sat in on this one. You DID get around didn’t you !
Great account, well told. Reminds me of my late father-in-law the RAdm. He was the top Navy officer in the advisory group to pre-revolutionary Iran in the mid-70s and spoke of attending many a "goat pull." He always briefed his staff on the proper etiquette and the need to eat whatever is presented to you. Of course, he made it a point to fortify himself with the vodka he had packed into country in cologne bottles. I always suspected the locals were inwardly laughing at getting the yanks to eat the things they'd never eat themselves. "Here! An eyeball for the guest of honor!"
The ‘WHY’ as to why I’m a subscriber to YOUR channel Ward. GREAT verbal, REALLY specific breakdown of your time incountry within that period of the GWOT. You obviously did (more than) justice to your time as an embedded ‘reporter’ posterity. Thanks for this..
Great vid, one of your best I feel. Would like to see an updated vid. from your experience relating to these recent events.
Love how you nailed the feeling on the streets of Kabul. As a U.N. contractor 2003 -2004 we were on the streets of the city daily as we had to support ourselves and sort of got accustomed to it but were always very wary.
Very prescient final thoughts, sadly. Thanks for the walk through, Ward. You share a story in a concise, yet also colorful and relatable way. Looking forward to giving the 'Punk's' series a try.
Got Punk's War two Days Ago and am Loving it! Your descriptions are so right on I chuckle out load and have to explain to my wife the dynamics of ordering an Omelette through the Chow Line.
I've enjoyed all of your videos, but I found this one particularly interesting. I spent 20 years of my 28 year Army career in the Infantry. When I attended the Joint Firepower er Control Course in 1983 the Army and Marine students missed the final week where the aviators went to the field. I always wondered how the pilots who were going to be FACs did in "our world". It looks like you did well. My son who is getting ready to retire from the Army next year did his Afghan deployment in Paktika Province in 2011.
Keep up the good work, I love the insights into the world of Naval Aviation.
Thanks Ward, I have never been in the military and your insights are fascinating. Keep it up 👍
Its crazy to think i was in Afghanistan 18 years in 2003! I later went on to do two more combat tours in Iraq.
Thank you Ward, this was an amazing video..
Mooch, I left PMA275 in June 2008 (Budget shop) and was a Navy individual augmentee at Kabul international airport as the OIC of the air terminal. Great memories of flying the Casa212 to my other dets in Salerno, Sharana, and JBad. I had the honor of being on hand for the transfer service you mentioned in KAIA. The Brit C-130 was always fun to work with, they always came in late (after midnight) because the pub on the camp closed at 2300, that way their handlers didn’t miss last call. Great stories and thanks for reporting.
Superb content Ward. I felt as if I was there with you. You can paint a picture with your prose, and I’m a huge fan of your story telling style.
Keep the content coming!
The depth of your remarkable experience becomes clearer with each video I've seen. You, sir, have lived, and survived an incredible life. Sincerely, thank you, and thank all those who have served!
Thanks, Mike.
Ward, keep up the great work!! I love your channel .. I’m a former CAG-6 Flight Surgeon on CV-62 1980-1982 with VF-33 and VF-102 F-4’s, and VA-176 A-6’s and VA-15 and VA-87 A-7’s. Our CAG was CDR (later VADM) Tim Wright. Your expertise is impressive. Keep up the great Work!!
Some of your comments turned out to be very prophetic in regards to this week's events.
Great video! As someone who spent 6 months on the gunline in Vietnam (68' & 69') doing H & I and call fire missions I was amazed at how familiar the vibe of your story matched my own feelings from that time. Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful story! Thank you for your service and keep the great content coming!
Will do, Jack. Thank you for watching.
Thank you for including the information about the V-22. I was an avionics tech with VMX-22 through OpEval, so it does my heart good as well to see the aircraft performing well in combat! I would love to learn more about your role with the V-22 program and when you were there.
Love your account of events. Keep up the good work!
Great story. It’s sad memories that come thinking of HOW we withdrew. Although we were there to educate/help the Afghans to protect their own freedom, they did not avail. My grandmother would say, “Too soon we get old, too late we become smart.”
Again another great story. I doubt there are many things I’ve ever done that I could remember in level of details that you relate in your stories. You are a Storyteller!
Thank you Ward, a pleasure listening to you. 👍🏻 from the UK
Fascinating. Thanks for this and for your service. Sweet Ricky there in the background too!
Hi Ward, I’m not a military person, but just thought I’d say that you do an excellent job of making your experiences understandable to everyone. I’ve now watched most of the videos on the channel. You must have been an excellent teacher.
Great story telling as always! Having seen the sit on the ground, how do you feeI about the recent pull out? I think Churchill said it best about Afghanistan: “one hand is against the other, all are against the outsider.”
I missed this outstanding episode. Turns out your feeling and doubts were on point. Thanks for sharing this pretty amazing experience.
your narratives are superb, a gift for recall and detail seldom encountered elsewhere - addictive stuff across the spectrum
This video felt like I was with you in PUNK'S FIGHT. It's amazing that you wrote PUNK'S FIGHT before actually going to Afghanistan and was fairly accurate in the book
Thanks much for that observation, Roy.
Hello Ward, I’m a new subscriber and love your videos. I was your brother Carson’s roommate at the 8th Engineer Support Battalion back in ‘87-‘88. I am sitting here with a huge smile because you remind me so much of him, with you mannerisms and expressions. I love what you are doing, keep up the nice work, and tell your brother I said “Hi”..Best regards.
Thanks, Mike. I’ll relay.
Fantastic video. Thanks for posting.
I am a younger guy and I guess feeling my age, I was in a number of those areas in 2008 and a contractor in Kabul through a large part of 2009.
Thanks for making this video, I feel like I could write a novel in correspondence with you about your trip, but I’ll save you the trouble! Again, wonderful content and fantastic chronology coupled with sage wisdom made this a great watch for myself!
BZ
I really enjoyed this insight from someone who had “boots on the ground”. I too fear that the 20 years of hard fought gains will be lost, much like the situation in Somalia, where I lost Brothers In Arms.
Just what gains?
Those cultures hate our guts, really really really want all that is not them dead. The only value they represent is a source of heroin poppies for global distribution. ... and that is not much of positive value. Radical islam IS at war with the entire
globe.
@@jenniferwhitewolf3784 same deal happen in Vietnam..
@@KutWrite Depletion of taliban and al queda as well as having a base in the vicinity of China and Russia. All with a very small force with very low casualties over the last years. Leaving is a complete waste of the sacrifices made over the last 20 years and the Taliban will take over. Very sad.
@@wittml same thing happened in Vietnam another place we shouldn't have been... It was for some of the same reasons.. just different players and you see how that turned out.. at least you didn't get spit on when you got home like we did...you were heroes... But then again a hero is nothing more than a sandwich..
Fantastic! Great to get feel of what life was like for our troops.
Thank you Ward for a well presented insight..... easily your best. Keep them coming...!!
You're an incredibly good story teller. Stumbled across your channel, and I am hooked. I'm a navy brat, and I saw my first F-14 close up on the Eisenhower when I was 10 years old in Norfolk, VA. Grew up in Virginia Beach and San Diego. Dad retired as a Captain select supply officer in 1987 after 20 years. Cheers Sir!!
I spent 2011 to 2014 in Afghanistan as a PMC. This brings back so many memories. Every time I got on a plane to go back it was like getting in a time machine.
I spent roughly 48 months in AFG at various bases as a contractor performing different missions, including training military personnel. I am grateful for my time there but never believed that we were going to change anything in a meaningful way in the long run. I really feel bad for the military personnel who were injured or killed there for a war that we couldn’t win. Thanks God that the US is bringing some of the terps and their families to the US!
Great story. It was great hearing about your experience over there. It's funny how things don't change too much from 1991. I wish you well.
Outstanding.
Thank you for your service.