Gold Star families are demanding answers from the Department of Defense and Joe Biden regarding the botched Afghanistan withdrawal that ended with thirteen soldiers killed and many others wounded.

The families of some of the 13 servicemembers who were killed in a deadly blast at the Kabul Airport in 2021 are seeking answers.

At 10 am on Monday, August 7, they will appear at Escondido City Hall to call on the Biden Administration to give them answers and inform the public as to how their loved ones died in a deadly blast as U.S. forces were leaving Afghanistan.

Appearing alongside the families will be senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Darrell Issa (CA-48).

“For almost two years, the Gold Star Families of the fallen in Afghanistan have waited for answers and accountability for the loss of their loved ones – and they have waited long enough,” said Rep. Issa. “At every turn, they’ve been shut out and ignored by the Biden Administration that prefers to turn the page on its disaster. That stops now.

It’s time that the public hears the stories of these heroes and learns of negligence and breakdown of leadership that led to the loss of life that day two years ago.”

It has been nearly two years since the debacle of the Afghanistan withdrawal started. It was a shit show from the very beginning. The DoD’s asinine decision to abandon Bagram Air Base and instead use Kabul Airport to get everyone out started a chain of events that led to the bombing at Abbey Gate. A bombing that left scores injured including many of our soldiers, and thirteen American heroes dead. 

Biden is literally on record calling this mess a success. As is Secretary of Defense Austin.

The State Department weasels weren’t any better. To call that withdrawal a success when thousands were left behind, American soldiers injured, and thirteen heroes killed is an insult to the Gold Star families as well as to the families and soldiers who served in that mess for over twenty years. 

Understandably the Gold Star families are demanding answers. Their testimony today was gut wrenching and infuriating. 

She said her son’s concern about the controversial withdrawal “began the moment that he landed” there for his final deployment. He saw “chaos, no communication, lack of leadership,” she said.

Barnett’s voice, full of emotion, broke when she said her son was told to “clean up the airport” because “we can’t leave it dirty for the Taliban.”

Excuse me? A soldier ordered to be a janitor so the Taliban won’t get insulted over a dirty airport??!! I really can’t type what I’m thinking right now… Kelly Barnett’s testimony regarding her son, Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover, was just one of the instances where these thirteen Gold Star families show they’ve been ignored, fed a pack of lies or pandered to.

Cheryl Rex, whose son Marine Lance Cpl. Dylan Merola died in the Aug. 26, 2021, bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, said she became enraged at Biden’s mawkish sentiment, knowing full well that Beau Biden died of brain cancer on US soil.

“His words to me were, ‘My wife, Jill, and I know how you feel. We lost our son as well and brought him home in a flag-draped coffin,’” Rex recounted during a forum convened in Escondido, Calif. by local Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). “My heart started beating faster and I started shaking, knowing that their son died from cancer and they were able to be by his side.”

The unmitigated gall of that man! And, of course, this happened just prior to Joe impatiently checking his watch while waiting for those soldiers to arrive. 

“Be a grown ass man. Admit to your mistakes… so this doesn’t ever, ever happen again”
-Gold Star dad, Darin Hoover

This has been on my leg since I met Christy Shambling and Nicole Gee’s family.

Thank you @DarrellIssa for giving these family’s a platform. pic.twitter.com/yJ4p4oJxMy

— Joey Jones (@Johnny_Joey) August 7, 2023

The testimony of these families is a must watch. They deserve answers. We ALL do. 

Do you know what the Department of Defense’s response was? THIS infuriating bit of horseshit. 

“The Department of Defense expresses our deepest condolences to the Gold Star Families who lost loved ones during the tragic bombing at Abbey Gate. We are forever grateful for their service, sacrifice, and committed efforts during the evacuation operations. We also commend the historic and monumental efforts of all our service men and women who served honorably during the withdrawal period from Afghanistan.”

Oh golly gee. ‘We are so sorry some of our soldiers got killed. But let’s applaud the others who didn’t.’ How tone deaf can you be??!! 

The Afghanistan withdrawal was botched from the get go. The Defense department, the State Department, and Joe Biden bear responsibility for this. They all need to stand up and admit that THEIR decisions led to our soldiers killed, others injured, and thousands left behind. 

Christy Shamblin, whose daughter-in-law, Sgt. Nicole Gee, was killed during Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal:

“To call it a ‘success’ is an ultimate disrespect for the very people who deserve every ounce of respect that we can give them.” pic.twitter.com/SBk3KHrbLh

— GOP (@GOP) August 7, 2023

Remember those who gave their lives on August 26, 2021

Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20

Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23

Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31

Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22

Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20

Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20

Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20

Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23

Sgt. Johanny Rosario Pichardo, 25

Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22

Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20

Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23

Navy Corpsman Maxton W. Soviak, 22

SAY THEIR NAMES.

What happened in Afghanistan was indeed a moral injury to the psyche of our military. The fault of that moral injury lies squarely on the shoulders of this Biden Administration.

https://twitter.com/JerryDunleavy/status/1688651580197777408

Accountability is not only demanded, it is REQUIRED.

Feature Photo Credit: Original artwork by Victory Girls Darleen Click