Purple Heart Veterans React to the US Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Vietnam Veterans: apparently the memo we sent out didn't get past the mail room.

These veterans should be the most angry at their government for sending them in to a useless conflict.

As a soldier who served in Afghanistan, I'd never let my daughter join the military.

You can fix american healthcare, implement high speed rail, and end homelessness with less than 50% of the Afghanistan war budget.

And people looked at me crazy when I tell them my grandfather is an air force vet and advised highly against any of his grandchildren to go in any military

It wasn’t for nothing: the weapons manufacturers & mercenaries got to make a lot of money. That’s the ugly truth of it.

These guys are remarkably well spoken and have great insight. I wouldn’t expect any less from somebody who saw this conflict first hand, but it’s still worth mentioning.

“All I want to say is that they don’t really care about us” — Michael Jackson

"War is young men dying and old men talking. You know this." ~Odysseus, Troy (2004)

the troops died for no reason. and it’s not just the fault of the people taking us out, it’s the people who got us in there and sustained us being there.

"The people who fought the war they're the ones who won the battles and its the politicians who lost the war" Damn that's deep

20 years ago my dad said this war is going to be the longest unwinnable war. He was a Vietnam Vet. He died just a few days after this war started

Imagine holding the american government accountable for the past 20 years

I told my step son joining the military would only be fighting to make a lot of rich men richer!

Probably the best journalism I've seen from Vice in a decade.

I feel the pain, but don’t see gain. I’m an Afghan vet. I’m glad we left, but ain’t happy about how we left. But another 5 days, 5 months, 5 years, 5 billion dollars wouldn’t have made the difference. We could never give the Afghan people what modernized world has. Best we could do, is give them a taste, a glimpse of what to aim for. In that sense-mission accomplished. Sorta. And sometimes sorta is good enough. Is what it is. But none of it was truly in vain. Young Afghan have had a small seed of a reality other than life under the Taliban, planted in their minds. That’s worth something. Maybe not as much as we would like, but still something. Maybe I’m wrong. I’m not that smart and could be completely off target on this subject. But one thing I know I am goddamn right about, is that country is not worth ending your own life over. Be strong, my uniformed family.

I’m glad that Vice has been so respectful of Afghanistan vets during this time. Vice should pull no punches when it comes to our politicians but vets deserve our respect.

It's sad watching them come to the realization that the war was almost entirely pointless, when that was pretty clear right after the invasion and Osama fled to Pakistan. The saddest part was the marine in the middle saying he's support his daughter becoming a marine but hoped we're not fighting the same war. Well, look at history my friend. Afghanistan was no different than Vietnam except it was much longer. Odds are that we'll be entrenched in another pointless war around the time his daughter is turning 18.

It’s scary because after the war ended people in congress still wants the defense budget to go up. What about Americans school, medical, and cost of living we should focus on building our country not getting into pointless wars.

Note how thoughtful and articulate these men are.